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IRC. 


LIFE  AND  REMINISCENCES 

M 


JEFFERSON  DAYIS. 


BY 

DISTINGUISHED  MEN  OF  HIS  TIME. 

INTRODUCTORY  BY 

HON.  JOHN  W.  DANIEL, 

United  States  Senator  from  Virginia. 


BALTIMORE: 

R.  H.  WOODWARD  &  COMPANY. 
1890. 


Copyright,  1890,  by 
E.  H.  WOODWARD  &  COMPANY. 


•  •  • 
••   •  •  •*  «»t  •    •  ••  •      •  •••  •    * 

/•*.::•  :/s  •••   ••*•••*•• 


TO  THE 
PEOPLE  OF  THE  SOUTH 

TO  YOU 

IS  DEDICATED  THIS  MEMORIAL  VOLUME 
OF  YOUR  HONORED  AND  MUCH  LOVED  CHIEFTAIN 

JEFFERSON  DAVIS, 

THE  STATESMAN,   SOLDIER,   AND  CHRISTIAN,   IN  WHOM 

WAS  EMBODIED 

AS  IN   NO  OTHER  MAN 

THE  POLITICAL  VIEWS  AND  SENTIMENTS, 

WHICH  YOU 

SO  ABLY  MAINTAINED  IN  THAT  MEMORABLE  CONFLICT  OF 
1861-65. 


222870 


CONTENTS. 


PAGE 

BIRTH-PLACE  OF  JEFFERSON  DAVIS 3 

His  EARI.Y  LIFE 3 

TRAINING  AT  ACADEMY 3 

STUDENT  AT  TRANSYLVANIA  ACADEMY 4 

CADET  AT  WEST  POINT 4 

SECOND  LIEUTENANT  IN  THE  REGULAR  ARMY 4 

SERVICE  ON  THE  NORTHWESTERN  FRONTIER 4 

RESIGNED  His  COMMISSION 4 

PRESIDENTIAL  ELECTOR  IN  1845 5 

ELECTED  TO  U.  S.  HOUSE  OF  REPRESENTATIVES 5 

POLITICAL  CAREER 6 

WAR  WITH  MEXICO 6 

COLONEL  OF  THE  "  MISSISSIPPI  RIFLES  " 7 

BATTLE  OF  MONTEREY  .  .  .  .  r 8 

BATTLE  OF  BUENA  VISTA 11 

COLONEL  DAVIS  WOUNDED 13 

APPOINTED  U.  S.  SENATOR  . 14 

His  VIEWS  CONCERNING  THE  UNION  IN  1850 15^ 

THE  SOUTHERN  TRIUMVIRATE 19 

SPEECH  ON  THE  OCCASION  OF  HIS  RETIRING  FROM  THE  U.  S. 

SENATE,  JAN.  21,  1861 22 

SECRETARY  OF  WAR  UNDER  FRANKLIN  PIERCE 31 

ELECTED  PRESIDENT  OF  THE  CONFEDERATE  STATES  ....  34 

His  INAUGURAL  ADDRESS 34  ^^. 

SPEECH  AT  RICHMOND 37 

HISTORIC  ROOMS 39 

V 


vi  CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

A  LOVABLE   MAN 41 

ATTEMPTED  ASSASSINATION 42 

THE  EVACUATION 42 

SUPPLEMENTING  AN  INADEQUATE  SALARY 43 

SLOW  TO  FORGET   A  WRONG 44 

His  VIGOROUS  PERSONALITY 44 

His  LAST  VISIT  TO  RICHMOND 45 

ANDERSONVILLE 46 

SURRENDER  OF  GENERAL  LEE 50 

ASSASSINATION  OF  PRESIDENT  LINCOLN 50 

DEPARTURE  FROM  RICHMOND 50 

INCARCERATED  IN  FORTRESS  MONROE 51 

VISITS  TO  CANADA  AND  ENGLAND 52 

SETTLEMENT  AT  BEAUVOIR 53 

A  DAY  AT  BEAUVOIR 54 

THE  BUILDINGS  AT  BEAUVOIR 55 

THE  VENERABLE  EX-PRESIDENT 56 

THE  MOST  INTERESTING  TALKER 56 

GRADUAL  EMANCIPATION  OF  THE  NEGRO 58 

MRS.  JEFFERSON  DAVIS 59 

VISIT  TO  HIS  BIRTH-PLACE 61 

RECEPTION  OF  LIBERTY  BELL 64 

His  LAST  ILLNESS 65  ' 

THE  DEATH  CHAMBER 65 

MRS.   DAVIS'   MINISTRATIONS 66 

CLINGING  TO  HOPE 66 

THE  PATIENT  DESPONDENT 67 

THE  FATAL  ATTACK 68 

BREATHED  His  LIFE  AWAY 69 

A  CRUSHING   BLOW  .  .          70 

CAUSE  OF  DEATH 71 

THE  EVENT  ANNOUNCED 71 

AN  AWED   SILENCE 72 

BROUGHT  CUT  FLOWERS 74 

MR.  DAVIS'  BODY  SERVANT 75 

MORE  THAN  HE  COULD   BEAR 76 

PRAYERS  FOR  THE  DECEASED 77 


CONTENTS.  vii 

PAGE 

TOUCHED  THE  FEATURES  OF  THE  DEAD 77 

THE  CASKET 78 

ARRANGING  FOR  THE  FUNERAL 78 

THE  FUNERAL 82 

SCENE  AT  THE  CITY  HALL 82 

THE  PALL  BEARERS 83 

APPEARANCE  OF  THE  REMAINS 84 

THE  SERVICES 85 

^BISHOP  GALLEHER'S  ADDRESS 85 

REVERENTIAL  SILENCE 88 

THE  PROCESSION 88 

TOLLING  BELLS 89 

AT  THE  CEMETERY 90 

THE  FINAL  CEREMONIES 92 

IN  THE  TOMB 95 

A  QUESTION  IN  CONCLUSION 99 


REMINISCENCES   AND   ADDRESSES. 
A  TRIBUTE  FROM  A  CLASSMATE 107 

By  General  George  W.  Jones,  Ex-United  States  Minister. 

AN  ABLE  MAN  AND  A  LEADER 129  ^  - 

By  James  Campbell,  Ex  Postmaster-General  of  the  United  States. 

CORRECTION  AND  MISREPRESENTATION 141       ,\$M~.T*- 

By  J.  L-  M.  Curry,  LL.D. 

OPINIONS  AND  IMPRESSIONS 152 

By  Hon.  A.  H.  Garland,  EX- Attorney-General  of  the  United  States.' 

MEMORIAL  ADDRESS 158 

By  Hon.  J.  Randolph  Tucker. 

JEFFERSON  DAVIS 168 

Ey  Hon.  G.  G.  Vest,  U.  S.  Senator  from  Missouri. 


viii  CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

MEMORIAL,  ADDRESS 175 

By  Rev.  Moses  Hoge,  D.D. 

EX-PRESIDENT  DAVIS  IN  TEXAS  IN  1875 "  .  .  .    188 

By  Ex-Governor  F.  R.  Lubbock. 

REMINISCENCE 194 

By  General  A.  R.  Lawton,  Ex-Minister  to  Russia  and  Quartermaster- 
General  in  the  Confederate  Army. 

JEFFERSON  DAVIS  AS  I  KNEW  HIM 204 

By  Hon.  Reuben  Davis.  ( 

RECOLLECTIONS  AND  TRIBUTE 214 

By  Hon.  George  Davis,  Member  of  Mr.  Davis'  Cabinet. 

"MY  DEAD  HERO" 224 

Bv  Rev.  Charles  Minnigerode,  D.D.,  Mr.  Davis'  Pastor  during  the  War. 

AN  AMERICAN  TO  BE  PROUD  OF 242 

By  Colonel  Charles  Marshall,  Member  of  General  R.  E-  Lee's  Staff. 

ADDRESS  AND  TRIBUTE 247 

By  General  Fitzhugh  Lee,  Governor  of  Virginia. 

REMINISCENCES 259 

By  United  States  Senator  Reagan,  Member  of  Mr.  Davis'  Cabinet. 

ADDRESS 269 

By  Governor  J.  B.  Gordon,  of  Georgia. 

IMPRISONMENT  OF  JEFFERSON  DAVIS ' 274 

By  Hon.  S.  Teakle  Wallis,  Member  of  Baltimore  Bar. 

REMINISCENCE -309 

By  General  Joseph  Wheeler,  Member  of  Congress  from  Alabama. 

ADDRESS 317 

By  Major  Charles  S.  Stringfellow.     Delivered  December  aist,  1889,  in 
the  Academy  of  Music,  Richmond,  Va. 

FUNERAL  ORATION 329 

By  Colonel  Charles  C.  Jones,  Jr.,  LL.D.,  President  of  the  Confederate 
Survivors'  Association. 


CONTENTS.  ix 

PAGE 

SOME  RECOLLECTIONS  OF  PRESIDENT  DAVIS 349 

By  Major  Thomas  W.  Hall. 

MEMORIAL  NOTICE  OF  PRESIDENT  DAVIS.   ,  .  .      .  .  .  .  .   354 

By  Major  Thomas  W.  Hall. 

MR:  DAVIS'  STATE  PAPERS 361       3-  ^  (jf 

By  Hon.  Hillary  A.  Herbert,  Member  of  Congress  from  California. 


APPENDIX. 
GENERAL  ROBERT  E.  LEE 397 

By  Jefferson  Davis. 

EXCHANGE  OF  PRISONERS 413 

By  Jefferson  Davis. 

LORD  WOLSELEY'S  MISTAKES 425 

By  Jefferson  Davis. 

A  PATRIOTIC  LEGACY  TO  THE  PEOPLE  OF  NORTH  CAROLINA  444 

By  Jefferson  Davis. 

EDITORIAL  FROM  NEW  YORK  HERALD 451 

LONDON  PRESS  ON  JEFFERSON  DAVIS 455 

NORTHERN  ESTIMATE  OF  JEFFERSON  DAVIS 457 

MESSAGES  OF  CONDOLENCE 462 

BALTIMORE'S  MEMORIAL 475 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS. 


PAGE 

JEFFERSON  DAVIS  (Steel] Frontispiece. 

From  a  photograph  taken  in  1889. 

JEFFERSON  DAVIS 34 

From  a  photograph  taken  when  President  of  the  Confederate  States. 

DAVIS'   HOME 32 

Mr.  Davis'  residence  while  in  Richmond. 

CUSTOM  HOUSE,   RICHMOND,  VA 41 

Where  Mr.  Davis  had  his  office  during  the  War. 

GENERAL  VIEW  OF  FORTRESS  MONROE,  VA 51 

Where  Mr.  Davis  was  imprisoned. 

BEAUVOIR,  Miss 55 

Mr.  Davis'  home. 

ON  THE  VERANDA  AT  BEAUVOIR 56 

MRS.  JEFFERSON  DAVIS 59 

MR.  DAVIS  PREPARED  FOR  BURIAL 84 

JEFFERSON  DAVIS  AND  THE  CONFEDERATE  GENERALS  ...  194 

CONFEDERATE  CAPITOL,  RICHMOND,  VA 214 

ST.  PAUL'S  CHURCH,  RICHMOND,  VA 224 

JEFFERSON  DAVIS 240 

After  his  release  from  prison. 

JEFFERSON  DAVIS,  WITH  I/EE  AND  HIS  CABINET 259 

CELL  IN  WHICH  MR.   DAVIS  WAS  FIRST  CONFINED 274 

Fortress  Monroe,  Va. 

CARROLL  HALL,  FORTRESS  MONROE,  VA 284 

Where  Mr  Davis  was  transferred  after  being  taken  from  the  cell. 

THE  FAMOUS  I^IBBY  PRISON,  RICHMOND,  VA 393 


INTRODUCTORY. 

TKFFERSON  DAVIS  has  been  more  misrepresented,  and 

J      is  to-day  more  misunderstood  by  many  than  any  char 

acter  that  figured  in  th 


That  denunciation  should  be  directed  upon  him  by 
his  enemies  during  the  war  was  natural,  —  for  he  was  the 
head  and  front  of  the  Southern  Confederacy,  and  a  blow  at 
him  of  any  kind  was  a  blow  at  the  cause  he  represented. 
And  thick  and  bitter  as  were  the  invectives  that  fell  upon 
him  during  the  conflict,  they  were  neither  thicker  nor 
bitterer  than  those  which  fell  upon  Abraham  Lincoln  from 
his  enemies.  The  war  over,  a  change  of  feeling  instantly 
began  between  the  combatants.  General  Grant,  speaking  of 
the  surrender  at  Appomattox,  says,  that  the  soldiers  of  the 
Union  and  of  the  Confederate  Armies  met  like  friends  who 
had  been  long  parted  while  fighting  under  the  same  flag. 
And  certain  it  is  that  between  the  actual  fighters  of  the  war, 
bitterness  rapidly  declined  ;  and  toward  the  military  leaders 
of  both  sides  who  had  distinguished  themselves  by  soldierly 
virtues,  there  grew  up  a  feeling  of  admiration  and  kinness 
on  the  part  of  their  late  antagonists. 

Toward  Abraham  Lincoln  sentiment  also  changed.  It 
was  soon  felt  by  the  Southern  people  that  considering  the 
circumstances  in  which  he  was  placed  he  had  shown 
as  great  humanity  as  would  have  been  shown  by  any 
other  in  his  stead  ;  and  while  this  conviction  softened  the 
asperities  of  the  War,  the  great  abilities  he  had  exhibited 
created  high  respect.  There  are  few,  if  any,  in  the  South 

xiii 


xiv  INTRODUCTORY. 

who  do  not  believe  that  the  crime  which  closed  his  life  was 
a  deep  and  permanent  misfortune  to  the  country,  and 
especially  to  the  South. 

Toward  Jefferson  Davis,  however,  the  North  very  slowly 
relented.  L^ee  and  Jackson  and  other  Confederate  chieftains 
won  their  admiration.  Divines,  orators,  editors  and  states 
men  frequently  spoke  of  them  and  their  virtues  in  terms  of 
highest  praise ;  and  it  was  not  long  before  Northern 
audiences  would  applaud  reference  to  their  characters  or 
their  exploits  with  ready  and  generous  enthusiasm. 

Jefferson  Davis  seemed  to  stand  apart  in  Northern 
estimate  from  his  companions  ;  and  while  the  healing  work 
of  time  went  on,  it  did  not  seem  to  cure  the  harshness  of 
sentiment  toward  him. 

I  think  this  was  due  to  several  causes  : 

1 .  He  was  regarded  as  responsible  for  the  War,  and  as  its 
incarnation. 

2.  The   assassination  of  Lincoln  directed  upon  him,   as 
the  opposing  leader,  a  retaliatory  spirit. 

3.  It  was  taught  and  believed  that  he  was    responsible 
for  the  suffering  of  Northern  soldiers  in  Southern  prisons. 

4.  He  was  proud  and  unbending  in  his  disposition  ;  and 
declined  to  apply  for  pardon. 

5.  He  dedicated  the  remainder  of  his  life  to  the  vindication 
of  the  cause  of  which  he  was  the  head. 

But  while  these  circumstances  kept  alive  beyond  their 
time  a  vindictive  feeling  toward  Jefferson  Davis,  it  was 
noticeable  that  it  began  to  subside  before  he  died.  When 
he  was  laid  to  rest  many  noble  tributes  to  his  manly  virtues 
flowed  from  Northern  lips  and  pens  ;  and  it  is  safe  to 
say  that  a  new  tide  of  feeling  has  set  in. 

I  believe  it  will  continue  until  all  America  will  realize 
that  Jefferson  Davis  was  one  of  the  purest  and  bravest  of 


INTKODUCTOKY.  xv 

the  public  men  which  our  country  has  produced  ; — that  he 
was  an  honest,  able  and  clear  thinker,  and  a  true  seeker  for 
the  good  of  humanity. 

He  was  the  incarnation  of  the  Southern  cause.  His 
abilities  made  him  so.  But  he  was  no  more  responsible  fftr 
the  War  than  thousands  and  tens  of  thousands  on  both 
sides.  He  loved  peace  and  he  loved  the  Union.  He 
grieved  to  see  it  torn  asunder  ;  and  he  clung  to  it  as  long  as 
accommodation  was  possible.  The  people  in  their  move 
toward  secession  were  ahead  of  their  leaders.  They  instinc 
tively  divined  the  irrepressible  conflict  and  like  a  crowd  in  a 
street  they  pushed  the  foremost  forward. 

When  Lincoln  died  by  a  foul  blow,  the  North  was  fren 
zied.  Many  believed  the  assassin  was  prompted  by  Confed 
erate  connivance,  and  reward  was  offered  for  Jefferson 
Davis'  capture  as  an  accessory  to  the  crime.  This  is  all 
fully  disproved  now  as  absurdly  false  ;  but  the  fires  of 
resentment  scathed  Jefferson  Davis  while  yet  passion  was 
wild — and  unreasoning. 

It  is  clearly  demonstrated  now  that,  so  far  from  sharing 
any  responsibility  for  the  sufferings  of  prisoners,  he  did  his 
best  to  avert  and  alleviate  them.  He  tried  to  get  exchanges, 
— he  sent  a  delegation  of  the  prisoners  to  Washington  to 
represent  their  own  situation  ; — he  sent  Alexander  H.  Ste 
phens  on  a  special  mission  for  the  same  purpose  ; — he 
proposed  that  each  side  send  surgeons,  money  and  medicines 
to  their  men  in  captivity  ; — and  he  finally  gave  up  Federal 
prisoners — sick  and  well, — without  exchange,  rather  than 
have  them  suffer  in  Confederate  hands. 

There  were  sixty  thousand  more  Federal  prisoners  in 
Southern  prisons,  than  there  were  Confederate  prisoners  in 
Northern  prisons  ; — and  yet,  four  thousand  more  Confed 
erates  died  in  prison.  It  is  easier  to  protect  from  cold  than 


xvi  INTRODUCTOEY. 

from  heat ;  and  the  North  was  ten-fold  more  able  to  provide 
for  captives  than  the  South.  There  is  no  argument  possible 
that  .would  convict  Jefferson  Davis  of  cruelty  to  prisoners, 
that  would  not  more  deeply  convict  Abraham  I^ncoln. 
When  men  get  reasonable  enough  to  look  on  both  sides, 
and  do  justice,  they  will  regret  the  deep  wrong  done  to 
Jefferson  Davis  in  attempts  to  criminate  him.  His  name  is 
as  sure  of  its  vindication  as  time  is  to  roll  by. 

The  proud  and  self-poised  demeanor  of  Jefferson  Davis, 
and  his  declination  to  ask  pardon,  angered  some.  General 
Lee  had  applied  for  pardon  and  been  refused  it.  Had 
Jefferson  Davis  applied,  it  would  have  only  subjected  him 
to  humiliation.  In  not  doing  so,  he  stood  for  a  principle. 
The  Federal  Constitution  forbade  Congress  to  enact  an 
"  ex  post  facto  "  law  ;  that  is,  a  law  fixing  punishment  after 
the  offence.  Never  tried  for  treason,  he  was  yet  punished 
by  the  ipse  dixit  of  partisan  legislation.  The  Government 
and  the  Constitution  were  revolutionized  in  order  to  reach 
him.  A  great  and  fundamental  doctrine  of  civil  liberty  was 
overturned.  All  this  will  be  fully  appreciated  by  the  masses 
in  time,  and  many  who  have  derided  Jefferson  Davis  will 
J  applaud  the  integrity,  the  courage,  and  the  unselfish  devo 
tion  with  which  he  adhered  to  his  convictions. 

The  tenacious  affection  for  his  people,  and  the  noble 
resolution  to  defend  their  fame,  which  characterized  the 
declining  years  of  Jefferson  Davis,  disclosed  a  character  of 
rare  beauty  and  grandeur.  He  had  no  ambition  for  himself. 
He  knew  his  race  was  run,  and  he  did  not  wish  to  prolong 
it.  No  honor  did  he  crave  at  the  hands  of  any — not  even 
that  of  re-entering  the  Senate  from  Mississippi,  which, 
so  far  as  her  people  were  concerned,  he  could  have  done. 
He  thirsted  for  higher  things  than  the  transient  glories  of 
power  and  station.  He  laid  the  world  aside  without  a  sigh 


1 


INTKODUCTOKY.  xvii 

for  the  parting.  The  honor  of  his  people,  and  his  cause, 
and  himself :  —this  was  all  that  the  world  could  give  which 
he  desired.  And  this  he  has  left  upon  a  sure  foundation. 

Intense  as  have  been  the  passions  of  the  past,  they  will 
subside.  Violent  as  have  been  the  struggles  of  great 
interests,  their  wounds  will  be  healed.  Terrible  as  are  the 
memories  of  strife,  truth  and  justice  will  soften  their  harsh 
lines.  The  character  of  Jefferson  Davis  will  grow  in  the 
general  estimate.  Scholars  will  ponder  it,  and  will  bring  to 
the  light  the  facts  which  have  been  neglected  or  ignored  ; 
and  statesmen  who  have  been  under  the  spur  of  interest  to 
paint  him  darkly,  will  feel  that  impulse  to  do  justice  which 
springs  up  from  a  sense  of  injustice  done. 

A  ripe  scholar,  a  vigorous  writer,  a  splendid  orator,"13 
brave  soldier,  a  true  gentleman,  an  accomplished  statesman, 
a  sturdy  champion,  a  proud,  pure  patriot,  a  lover  of  liberty, 
a  hero  :  this  is  the  Jefferson  Davis  that  history  will  cheris^) 
And  while  we  can  scarce  quite  say  with  the  editor  of  the 
New  York  Sun,  that  "he  outlived  enmity  and  personal 
detraction,"  we  can  endorse  the  liberality  and  truth  of  his 
opinion  that,  "he  lived  long  enough  to  see  the  political 
atmosphere  purged  of  prejudice  and  rancor,  and  to  forecast 
in  the  candid  attitude  of  Northern  contemporaries  the  sober 
and  unbiassed  judgment  of  posterity." 

I  hope  this  book  will  aid  in  the  better  understanding  of 
Jefferson  Davis,  and  in  the  further  amelioration  of  the  feel 
ings  engendered  by  an  apparently  unavoidable  and  unhappy 
strife.  I  look  upon  those  men  who  attempt  to  instruct  the 
rising  generation  in  hatred  and  animosity,  as  the  worst 
enemies  of  their  country  and  of  the  human  race.  There  is 
a  chivalry  of  peace  higher  than  the  chivalry  of  war.  The 
people  who  are  to  live  together  must  live  in  mutual  self- 
respect  or  in  mutual  unhappiness.  We  cannot  lower  the 


xviii  INTRODUCTORY. 

caste  of  a  section  without  lowering  the  caste  of  the  coun 
try. 

If  the  people  of  America  would  devote  the  time  given  to 
detractions  to  the  encouragement  of  each  other,  which  flows 
from  the  prompt  recognition  of  virtues  and  their  just  praise, 
our  country  would  lack  in  nothing  for  the  prosperity  and 
welfare  of  its  people.  If  that  prosperity  and  welfare  are 
arrested  or  impeded,  it  will  be  by  nothing  more  than  through 
the  agency  of  bigotry  and  partisanry ,  who  refuse  to  see  good 
in  aught  that  comes  in  conflict  with  immediate  interests. 

Generous  thought  and  generous  speech  are  as  essential  to 
progress  as  a  sound  currency,  or  a  sound  system  of  taxation. 
No  country  is  better  fitted  to  produce  them  than  our  own  ; 
and  in  them  it  will  find  heralds  of  the  highest  destiny. 

JOHN  W.  DANIEL. 


LIFE  OF  JEFFERSON  DAVIS. 


LIFE  OF  JEFFERSON  DAVIS. 


JEFFERSON  DAVIS  was  by  birth  a  Kentuckian. 
if  He  was  born  on  the  3d  day  of  June,  1808, 
in  Christian  County,  but  in  a  part  of  it  that 
afterwards  became  Todd  County.  About  his  birth 
place  has  grown  up  the  village  of  Fair  view,  and  on 
the  exact  spot  now  stands  the  Fairview  Baptist 
Church,  which  received  the  ground  by  gift  from  the 
distinguished  man  that  there  began  his  being.  His 
father  was  Samuel  JDavis,  a  native  of  Georgia,  who 
removed  from  that  State  to  Kentucky  not  many 
years  after  the  War  of  the  Revolution,  in  which  he 
had  rendered  gallant  service  as  a  captain  of  infantry. 
When  Jefferson  was  less  than  ten  years  old,  his 
father  teft  Kentucky  and  settled  in  Mississippi,  then 
a  territory.  Thus  early  in  the  history  of  Mississippi, 
and  in  the  life  of  Davis,  was  formed  a  relation  that 
continued  through  many  years,  and  became  to  botli 
alike  a  matter  of  highest  pride.  After  preparatory 
training  at  a  neighboring  academy,  young  Davis 


F:  <TEFFEESCN  DAVIS. 

returned  to  his  native  State  for  the  purpose  of 
studying  in  Transylvania  University.  He  remained 
in  this  institution  until  1824,  when  he  was  appointed 
by  President  Monroe  to  a  cadetship  at  West  Point. 
Here  he  had  R.  E.  Lee  for  a  class-mate.  The  two 
were  destined  for  another  companionship  of  which 
neither  had,  at  this  time,  the  faintest  dream.  Would 
we  see  Jefferson  Davis  as  a  cadet  ?  He  is  thus  de 
scribed  :  "  He  was  distinguished  in  the  corps  for  his 
manly  bearing,  his  high-toned  and  lofty  character. 
His  figure  was  very  soldierlike  and  rather  robust; 
his  step  springy,  resembling  the  tread  of  an  Indian 
brave  on  the  war-path."  He  was  graduated  at  the 
military  academy  in  1828,  when  he  was  just  twenty 
years  of  age.  His  graduation  gave  him  a  second- 
lieutenancy  in  the  regular  army ;  and,  being  assigned 
to  the  infantry,  he  was  sent  to  perform  service  on 
the  northwestern  frontier.  He  won  distinction,  and 
was  promoted  to  the  rank  of  first  lieutenant  of  dra 
goons.  It  is  said  that  the  savages  with  whom  Lieu 
tenant  Davis  had  to  deal  were  awed  by  his  intrepidity 
and  won  by  his  kindness.  After  a  military  service 
of  seven  years  on  the  frontier,  he  resigned  his  com 
mission. 

His  resignation  from  the  army  brought  him  back 
to  Mississippi  in  1835.  He  soon  after  married  a 
daughter  of  General  (then  Colonel)  Zachary  Taylor, 
and  retiring  to  a  farm  in  Warren  County,  he  gave 


POLITICAL  CAPEER  5 

himself  to  cotton  planting  and  to  studies  in  favorite 
lines  of  investigation.  This  seclusion,  continuing 
through  eight  years,  he  was  the  more  disposed  to 
prolong  by  reason  of  the  fact  that  almost  at  the  very 
commencement  of  it  death  deprived  him  of  his  wife. 
Mr.  Davis'  political  career  may  be  said  to  have  begun 
in  1843.  During  that  year  he  participated  in  local 
politics,  the  next  year  he  was  chosen  a  presidential 
elector,  and  in  1845  he  was  elected  to  the  United 
States  House  of  Representatives.  When  he  took 
his  seat  in  Congress  he  found  great  men  there.  To 
say  nothing  of  the  Senate,  he  met  in  the  House 
Stephen  A.  Douglas,  of  Illinois ;  R.  M.  T.  Hunter, 
of  Virginia ;  Andrew  Johnson,  of  Tennessee ;  and 
John  Quincy  Adams,  of  Massachusetts.  But  con 
tact  with  such  men  placed  him  at  no  disadvantage. 
He  was  a  prominent  participant  in  the  discussions 
that  arose  during  the  session,  and  always  commanded 
the  respectful  attention  of  his  associates."7  His  senti 
ments  were  eminently  patriotic  and  national.  Speak 
ing  on  the  Oregon  question,  he  said :  "  It  is  as  the 
representative  of  a  high-spirited  and  patriotic  people 
that  I  am  called  on  to  resist  this  war  clamor.  My 
constituents  need  no  such  excitements  to  prepare 
their  hearts  for  all  that  patriotism  demands.  When 
ever  the  honor  of  the  country  demands  redress; 
whenever  its  territory  is  invaded  .  .  .  Mississippi 
will  come.  And  whether  the  question  be  one  of 


6  LIFE  OF  JEFFERSON  DAVIS. 

Northern  or  Southern,  Eastern  or  Western  aggres 
sion,  we  will  not  stop  to  count  the  cost,  but  act  as 
becomes  the  descendants  of  those  who,  in  the  War 
of  the  Revolution,  engaged  in  unequal  strife  to  aid 
our  brethren  of  the  North  in  redressing  their  in 
juries." 

Mr.  John  Savage,  in  "  On  Living  Representative 
Men,"  says :  "  John  Quincy  Adams  had  a  habit  of 
always  observing  new  members.  He  would  sit 
near  them  on  the  occasion  of  their  Congressional  de 
but,  closely  eyeing  and  attentively  listening  if  the 
speech  pleased,  but  quickly  departing  if  it  did  not. 
When  Davis  arose  in  the  House  the  ex-President 
took  a  seat  close  by.  Davis  proceeded,  and  Adams 
did  not  move.  The  one  continued  speaking  and  the 
other  listening ;  and  those  who  knew  Mr.  Adams's 
habit  were  fully  aware  that  the  new  member  had 
deeply  impressed  him.  At  the  close  of  the  speech 
the  ( Old  Man  Eloquent '  crossed  over  to  some  friends 
and  said,  'That  young  man  is  no  ordinary  man. 
He  will  make  his  mark  yet.' r 

The  war  with  Mexico  was  now  going  on,  and  Gen 
eral  Taylor,  with  his  valiant  little  army,  was  already 
on  the  Rio  Grande.  Mississippi  was  aroused,  and,  as 
one  result,  a  volunteer  regiment  was  raised  in  and 
about  Vicksburg. 

These  soldiers  enlisted  as  the  First  Regiment  of 
Mississippi  Volunteers,  and  afterwards  became  fa- 


COLONEL  DAVIS.  7 

mous  as  the  "  Mississippi  Rifles."  At  the  organiza 
tion,  June,  1846,  Mr.  Davis  was  elected  colonel. 
When  the  information  reached  him,  he  promptly  re 
signed  his  seat  in  Congress,  and  hastened  to  join 
the  regiment,  which  he  overtook  in  New  Orleans. 
From  this  time  Jefferson  Davis  may  be  considered  as 
fairly  started  on  that  career  which  has  sent  his  name 
over  the  civilized  world. 

COLONEL  DAVIS, 

taking  command  of  his  regiment,  moved  rapidly 
towards  the  scene  of  war,  and  reported  to  General 
Taylor  at  Camargo,  just  across  the  Rio  Grande. 
The  battles  of  Palo  Alto  and  Resaca  de  la  Palnra 
had  already  been  fought,  and  the  army  was  now 
about  to  march  against  Monterey.  After  the  ar 
rival  of  the  Mississippians  several  weeks  were  spent 
in  preparations ;  but  towards  the  last  of  August  the 
advance  movement  began.  On  the  19th  of  Sep 
tember,  1846,  General  Taylor  appeared  before  the  city, 
on  the  21st  the  attack  commenced,  and  on  the  24th 
the  garrison  of  ten  thousand  Mexicans  surrendered. 
As  this  result  was  accomplished  by  an  attacking 
force  of  six  thousand  five  hundred  men,  it  can  be  at 
once  assumed  that  the  battle  of  Monterey  brought 
out  some  of  the  best  qualities  of  the  American  sol 
dier.  Among  all  those  that  showed  skill  and  gallan 
try,  Colonel  Davis  stands  conspicuous.  His  own  ac- 


8  LIFE  OF  JEFFERSON  DAVIS. 

count,  taken  from  BelforcTs  Magazine,  of  the  opera 
tions,  claims  less  for  himself  than  others  would  ac 
cord  to  him;  nevertheless,  his  own  statement  is 
given : 

"In  an  attack  on  Monterey  General  Taylor  divided 
his  force,  sending  one  part  of  it  by  a  circuitous  road 
to  attack  the  city  from  the  west,  while  he  decided  to 
lead  in  person  the  attack  on  the  east.  The  Missis 
sippi  Regiment  advanced  to  the  relief  of  a  force 
which  had  attacked  Fort  Lenaria,  but  had  been  re 
pulsed  before  the  Mississippians  arrived.  They  car 
ried  the  redoubt,  and  the  fort  which  was  in  the  rear 
of  it  surrendered.  The  next  day  our  force  on  the 
west  side  carried  successfully  the  height  on  which 
stood  the  Bishop's  Palace,  which  commanded  the 
city. 

"On  the  third  day  the  Mississippians  advanced 
from  the  fort  which  they  held,  through  lanes  and 
gardens,  skirmishing  and  driving  the  enemy  before 
them  until  they  reached  a  two-story  house  at  the 
corner  of  the  Grand  Plaza.  Here  they  were  joined 
by  a  regiment  of  Texans,  and  from  the  windows  of 
this  house  they  opened  fire  on  the  artillery  and  such 
other  troops  as  were  in  view.  But,  to  get  a  better 
position  for  firing  on  the  principal  building  of  the 
Grand  Plaza,  it  was  necessary  to  cross  the  street, 
which  was  swept  by  canister  and  grape,  rattling  on 
the  pavement  like  hail ;  and  as  the  street  was  very 


ATTACK  ON  MONTEREY.  9 

narrow  it  was  determined  to  construct  a  flying  bar 
ricade.  Some  long  timbers  were  found,  and,  with 
pack  saddles  and  boxes,  which  served  the  purpose, 
a  barricade  was  formed. 

"Here  occurred  an  incident  to  which  I  have  since 
frequently  referred  with  pride.  In  breaking  open  a 
quartermaster's  store-house  to  get  supplies  for  this 
barricade,  the  men  found  bundles  of  the  much- 
prized  Mexican  blankets,  and  also  of  very  service 
able  shoes  and  pack-saddles.  The  pack-saddles  were 
freely  taken  as  good  material  for  the  proposed  barri 
cade  ;  and  one  of  my  men,  as  his  shoes  were  broken 
and  stones  had  hurt  his  feet,  asked  my  permission  to 
take  a  pair  from  one  of  the  boxes.  This,  of  course, 
was  freely  accorded ;  but  not  one  of  the  very  valu 
able  and  much-prized  Mexican  blankets  was  taken. 

"  About  the  time  that  the  flying  barricade  was  com 
pleted,  arrangements  were  made  by  the  Texans  and 
Mississippians  to  occupy  houses  on  both  sides  of  the 
street  for  the  purpose  of  more  effective  fire  into  the 
Grand  Plaza.  It  having  been  deemed  necessary  to 
increase  our  force,  the  Mississippi  sergeant-major 
was  sent  back  for  some  companies  of  the  First  Mis 
sissippi,  which  had  remained  behind.  He  returned 
with  the  statement  that  the  enemy  was  behind  us, 
that  all  our  troops  had  been  withdrawn,  and  that 
orders  had  been  three  times  sent  to  me  to  return. 
Governor  Henderson,  of  Texas,  had  accompanied  the 


10  LIFE  OF  JEFFERSON  DAVIS. 

Texan  troops,  and  on  submitting  to  him  the  ques 
tion  what  we  should  do  under  the  message,  he  real 
ized — as  was  very  plain — that  it  was  safer  to  remain 
where  we  were  than — our  supports  having  been 
withdrawn — to  return  across  streets  where  we  were 
liable  ,to  be  fired  on  by  artillery,  and  across  open 
grounds,  where  cavalry  might  be  expected  to  attack 
us.  But,  he  added,  he  supposed  the  orders  came 
from  the  general-in-chief,  and  we  were  bound  to 
obey  them.  So  we  made  dispositions  to  retire 
quietly ;  but,  in  passing  the  first  square  we  found 
that  our  movement  had  been  anticipated,  and  that 
a  battery  of  artillery  was  posted  to  command  the 
street.  The  arrangement  made  by  me  was  that  I 
should  go  first;  if  only  one  gun  was  fired  at  me, 
then  another  man  should  follow ;  and  so  on,  another 
and  another,  until  a  volley  should  be  fired,  and  then 
all  of  them  should  rush  rapidly  across  before  the 
guns  could  be  reloaded.  In  this  manner  the  men 
got  across  with  little  loss.  We  then  made  our  way 
to  the  suburb,  where  we  found  that  an  officer  of  in 
fantry*  with  two  companies  and  a  section  of  artil 
lery,  had  been  posted  to  wait  for  us,  and,  in  case  of 
emergency,  to  aid  our  retreat. 

"  Early  next  morning  General  Ampudia,  command 
ing  the  Mexican  force,  sent  in  a  flag  and  asked  for 
a  conference  with  a  view  to  capitulation.  General 
Taylor  acceded  to  the  proposition,  and  appointed 


BATTLE  OF  BUENA  VISTA.  11 

General  Worth,  Governor  Henderson  and  myself 
commissioners  to  arrange  the  terms  of  capitulation. 
General  Taylor  received  the  city  of  Monterey,  with 
supplies,  much  needed  by  his  army,  and  shelter  for 
the  wounded.  The  enemy  gained  only  the  privilege 
of  retiring  peacefully,  a  privilege  which,  if  it  had 
not  been  accorded,  they  had  the  power  to  take  by 
any  one  of  the  three  roads  open  to  them." 

Next  came  the  battle  of  Buena  Yista,  where  Gen. 
Taylor's  little  army  of  five  thousand  men  received 
the  attack  of  twenty  thousand  Mexicans,  led  by 
Santa  Anna.  Here  again  Jefferson  Davis  and  his 
riflemen  rendered  most  distinguished  service,  and 
helped  to  win  one  of  the  most  remarkable  victories 
of  modern  times.  A  writer  thus  narrates  the  most 
prominent  incidents  of  the  battle  :  "  The  battle  had 
been  raging  some  time  with  fluctuating  fortunes,  and 
was  setting  against  the  Americans,  when  Gen.  Tay 
lor,  with  Col.  Davis  and  others,  arrived  on  the  field. 
Several  regiments  were  in  full  retreat  .  .  .  Col. 
Davis  rode  forward  to  examine  the  position  of  the 
enemy,  and  concluding  that  the  best  way  to  arrest 
our  fugitives  would  be  to  make  a  bold  demonstration, 
he  resolved  at  once  to  make  a  new  attack.  It  was 
a  resolution  bold  almost  to  rashness,  but  the  emer 
gency  was  pressing.  ...  A  deep  ravine  sepa 
rated  the  combatants.  Leaping  into  it,  the  Missis- 
sippians  soon  appeared  on  the  other  side,  and  with  a 


12  LIFE  OF  JEFFERSON  DAVIS. 

shout  that  was  heard  over  the  battle-field,  they 
poured  in  a  well-directed  fire,  and  rushed  upon  the 
enemy.  Their  deadly  aim  and  wild  enthusiasm 
were  irresistible.  The  Mexicans  fled  in  confusion 
to  their  reserves,  and  Davis  seized  the  commanding 
position  they  had  occupied.  .  .  .  Afterwards  a 
brigade  of  lancers,  one  thousand  strong,  were  seen 
approaching  at  a  gallop,  in  beautiful  array,  with 
sounding  bugles  and  fluttering  pennons.  It  was  an 
appalling  spectacle,  but  not  a  man  flinched  from  his 
position.  The  time  between  our  devoted  band  and 
eternity  seemed  brief  indeed.  But  conscious  that 
the  eye  of  the  army  was  upon  them,  that  the  honor 
of  Mississippi  was  at  stake,  and  knowing  that,  if 
they  gave  way  or  were  ridden  down,  the  unprotected 
batteries  in  the  rear,  upon  which  the  fortunes  of  the 
day  depended,  would  be  captured,  each  man  resolved 
to  die  in  his  place  sooner  than  retreat.  .  .  .  Im 
pressed  with  this  extraordinary  firmness  where  they 
had  expected  panic  and  flight,  the  lancers  advanced 
more  deliberately,  as  though  they  saw,  for  the  first 
time,  the  dark  shadow  of  the  fate  that  was  impend 
ing  over  them.  Col.  Davis  had  thrown  his  men  into 
the  form  of  a  re-entering  angle  (familiarly  known  as 
the  famous  V  movement),  both  flanks  resting  on 
ravines,  the  lancers  coming  down  on  the  intervening 
ridge.  This  exposed  them  to  a  converging  fire,  and 
the  moment  they  came  within  rifle  range  each  man 


COLONEL  DAVIS  WOUNDED.  13 

singled  out  his  object,  and  the  whole  head  of  the 
column  fell.  A  more  deadly  fire  never  was  delivered, 
and  the  brilliant  array  recoiled  and  retreated  in  dis 
may.  Shortly  afterwards  the  Mexicans  having  con 
centrated  a  large  force  on  the  right  for  their  final 
attack,  Colonel  Davis  was  ordered  in  that  direction. 
His  regiment  had  been  in  action  all  day,  exhausted 
by  thirst  and  fatigue,  much  reduced  by  the  carnage 
of  the  morning  engagement,  and  many  in  the  ranks 
suffering  from  wounds,  yet  the  noble  fellows  moved 
at  double-quick  time.  Bowless'  little  band  of  Indiana 
volunteers  still  acted  with  them.  After  marching 
several  hundred  yards  they  perceived  the  Mexican  in 
fantry  advancing  in  three  lines  upon  Bragg' s  battery, 
which,  though  entirely  unsupported,  held  its  position 
with  a  resolution  worthy  of  its  fame.  The  pressure 
upon  him  stimulated  the  Mississippians.  They  in 
creased  their  speed,  and  when  the  enemy  were  with 
in  one  hundred  yards  of  the  battery  and  confident  of 
its  capture,  they  poured  in  upon  them  a  raking  and 
destructive  fire.  This  broke  their  right  line,  and  the 
rest  soon  gave  way  and  fell  back  precipitately.  Here 
Colonel  Davis  was  severely  wounded."  This  pain 
ful  injury  was  received  early  in  the  day ;  but,  de 
spite  his  sufferings,  Colonel  Davis  remained  with  his 
men  until  the  end  of  battle.  It  should  be  noted  that 
among  the  killed  at  Buena  Vista  was  Henry  Clay, 
Jr.,  son  of  the  illustrious  Kentucky  statesman. 


14  LIFE  OF  JEFFERSON  DAVIS. 

SENATOR    DAVIS. 

Jefferson  Davis  was  twice  a  member  of  the  United 
States  Senate— from  1847-51  and  then  from  1857  to 
1861.  Between  these  two  terms  came  his  candidacy 
for  the  Gubernatorial  office  in  Mississippi  and  his 
service  as  Secretary  of  War ;  nevertheless  for  con 
venience  his  whole  senatorial  life  will  now  be  treated. 
Colonel  Davis  returned  on  crutches  from  Mexico. 
As  the  maimed  hero  crossed  his  country's  border  he 
was  met  with  two  opportunities.  One  was  President 
Folk's  commission,  making  him  Brigadier-General 
of  volunteers,  and  the  other  the  appointment  of  the 
Governor  of  Mississippi,  to  fill  a  vacancy  in  the 
United  States  Senate  caused  by  the  death  of  one  of 
the  Mississippi  Senators.  The  first  he  declined  on 
the  ground  that  volunteers  are  but  State  Militia, 
and  that,  therefore,  militia  officers  must  receive 
their  commissions  from  their  respective  States.  The 
second  he  accepted,  and  thus  secured  for  himself  a 
field  for  which  both  nature  and  training  had  fitted 
him.  When  the  Legislature  came  together,  in  1848, 
they  retained  his  services  as  Senator,  and  the  Legis 
lature  of  1850  re-elected  him  to  that  exalted  posi 
tion.  Concerning  the  period  of  Mr.  Davis'  senatorial 
life,  from  1847  to  1851,  he,  himself,  says : 

"  In  the  United  States  Senate  I  was  Chairman  of 
the  Military  Committee,  and  I  also  took  an  active 


SENATOR  DA  Via  15 

part  in  the  debates  on  the  Compromise  measures  of 
1850,  frequently  opposing  Senator  Douglas,  of  Illi 
nois,  in  his  theory  of  squatter  sovereignty,  and  advo 
cating,  as  a  means  of  pacification,  the  extension  of 
the  Missouri  Compromise  line  to  the  Pacific." 

It  will  be  interesting  to  note  what  were  Mr.  Davis' 
views  at  this  time  concerning  the  Union  and  its  per 
petuity.  In  a  speech  on  the  compromise  measures 
of  1850  he  thus  expressed  himself: 

"  Give  to  each  section  of  the  Union  justice ;  give 
to  every  citizen  of  the  United  States  his  rights  as 
guaranteed  by  the  Constitution ;  leave  this  Confeder 
acy  to  rest  upon  that  basis  from  which  arose  the  fra 
ternal  feelings  of  the  people,  and  I  for  one  have  no 
fear  of  its  perpetuity ;  none  that  it  will  survive  be 
yond  the  limits  of  human  speculation,  expanding 
and  hardening  with  the  lapse  of  time,  to  extend  its 
blessings  to  ages  unnumbered,  and  a  people  innum 
erable  ;  to  include  within  its  empire  all  the  useful 
products  of  the  earth,  and  exemplify  the  capacity  of 
a  confederacy  with  general,  well-defined  powers,  to 
extend  inimitably  without  impairing  its  harmony  or 
its  strength."  It  was  during  this  period  that  Mr. 
Davis  was  brought  into  association  with  Henry  Clay, 
who  still  lingered  in  the  Senate,  but  whose  life  was 
verging  to  its  end.  Two  facts  prevented  the  closest 
intimacy  in  antagonism  of  political  views  and  dis 
parity  of  age.  But  their  personal  relations  were 


16  LIFE  OF  JEFFEKSON  DAVIS. 

very  pleasant.  Mr.  Clay  could  never  forget  that 
Mr.  Davis  and  his  son  Henry  were  in  the  same  army 
at  Buena  Vista,  and  that  on  that  field  from  which 
the  one  brought  away  imperishable  renown,  the 
other  lost  his  life.  The  Kentucky  statesman  called 
Mr.  Davis  "  my  young  friend."  On  one  occasion  he 
said,  "Come,  my  young  friend,  join  us  in  these 
measures  of  pacification.  Let  us  rally  Congress  and 
the  people  to  their  support,  and  they  will  assure  to 
the  country  thirty  years  of  peace.  By  that  time  " 
(turning  to  Jno.  M.  Berrien,  who  was  a  participant 
in  the  interview)  "  you  and  I  will  be  under  the  sod 
and  my  young  friend  may  then  have  trouble  again." 
"  No,"  said  Davis,  "  I  cannot  consent  to  transfer  to 
posterity  a  question  which  is  as  much  ours  as  theirs, 
when  it  is  evident  that  the  sectional  inequality,  as 
it  will  be  greater  then  than  now,  will  render  hope 
less  the  attainment  of  justice."  Mr.  Clay  said  one 
day  to  Mr.  Davis  :  "  My  poor  boy,  in  writing  home 
from  Mexico,  usually  occupied  about  one-half  of  his 
letters  in  praising  you."  In  the  course  of  a  heated 
public  debate  in  the  Senate,  Mr.  Clay  used  the  fol 
lowing  language  :  "  My  friend  from  Mississippi — 
and  I  trust  he  will  permit  me  to  call  him  my  friend, 
for  between  us  there  is  a  tie,  the  nature  of  which 
we  both  well  understand."  As  the  sentence  fell 
from  the  lips  of  the  aged  Senator,  his  eyes  were 
filled  with  tears.  In  1851  terminated  the  first 


SENATOK  DAVIS.  17 

period  of  Mr.  Davis'  senatorial  career.  How  he 
came  to  resign  his  seat  and  what  immediately  fol 
lowed  he  tells  us  in  his  autobiography. 

"  The  canvass  for  Governor  commenced  that  year. 
The  candidate  of  the  Democratic  party  was  by  his 
opponents  represented  to  hold  extreme  opinions — 
in  other  words,  to  be  a  disunionist.  For,  although 
he  was  a  man  of  high  character  and  had  served  the 
country  well  in  peace  and  war,  this  supposition  was 
so  artfully  cultivated  that,  though  the  Democratic 
party  was  estimated  to  be  about  eight  thousand  in 
majority,  when  the  election  occurred  in  September 
the  Democratic  candidates  for  a  convention  were 
defeated  by  a  majority  of  over  seven  thousand,  and 
the  Democratic  candidate  for  Governor  withdrew. 

"  The  election  for  Governor  was  to  occur  in  No 
vember,  and  I  was  called  on  to  take  the  place 
vacated  by  the  candidate  who  had  withdrawn  from 
the  canvass.  It  was  a  forlorn  hope,  especially  as 
my  health  had  been  impaired  by  labors  in  the 
Summer  canvass,  and  there  was  not  time  before  the 
approaching  election  to  make  such  a  canvass  as 
would  be  needed  to  reform  the  ranks  of  the  Democ 
racy.  However,  as  a  duty  to  the  party  I  accepted 
the  position,  and  made  as  active  a  campaign  as  time 
permitted,  with  the  result  that  the  majority  against 
the  party  was  reduced  to  less  than  one  thousand. 
From  this  time  I  remained  engaged  in  my  quiet  farm 


18  LIFE  OF  JEFFERSON  DAVIS. 

labors  until  the  nomination  of  Franklin  Pierce, 
when  I  went  out  to  advocate  his  election,  having 
formed  a  very  high  opinion  of  him  as  a  statesman 
and  a  patriot,  from  observations  of  him  in  1837  and 
1838,  when  he  was  in  the  United  States  Senate." 

Mr.   Davis  re-entered  the    Senate   in   December, 
1857.     He   had  been   elected    by  the    Mississippi 
Legislature  even  before  the  expiration  of  his  time 
of  service  as  Secretary  of  War.     When  Mr.  Davis 
left  the  Senate,  he  left  the  body  convulsed  with  the 
questions   growing   out  of    slavery,   and   when   he 
returned  to  it  the  same  storm  was  raging,  only  it 
had  increased  in  fury.     He  was  found  always  where 
the  tempest  was  wildest,  as  he  claimed,  not  to  in 
voke  the  winds,  but  to  save  the  ship.     Mr.   Davis 
was  known  to  belong  to  the  State's  Rights  school 
of  politics,  and  he  at  once  came  to  the  front  as  a 
leader  of  those  who  took  a  State's  Rights  view  of 
the  nature  of  the  Union  established  by  the  Consti 
tution.       This    doctrine    he    vigorously    defended, 
whatever  might  be  the  quarter  from  which  it  was 
assailed.     The  attack  might  come  from  Fessenden, 
the  Republican,  or  from  Douglas,  the  Democrat ;  in 
either  case  he  was  its  ready  and  able  champion. 
A  newspaper  correspondent  draws  a  portrait  of  the 
man  as  he  appeared  in  the  Senate  during  the  ever 
memorable  winter  of  1859-60.     Along  with  it  are 
given  pictures  of  two  of  his  colleagues  and  intimate 


SENATOR  DAVIS.  19 

political  associates  at  the  time ;  but  we  shall  be  able 
to  see  Davis  all  the  more  clearly  by  the  contrast 
with  Hunter  and  Toombs. 

THE  SOUTHERN  TRIUMVIRATE. 

WASHINGTON  CITY,  January  21. — "Yesterday, 
when  Hale  was  speaking,  the  right  side  of  the 
chamber  was  empty,  with  the  exception  of  a  group 
of  three  who  sat  near  the  centre  of  the  vacant 
space.  This  remarkable  group,  which  wore  the 
air  if  not  the  ensigns  of  power,  authority  and  pub 
lic  care,  was  composed  of  Senators  Davis,  Hunter 
and  Toombs.  They  were  engaged  in  an  earnest 
colloquy,  which,  however,  was  foreign  to  the  argu 
ment  Hale  was  elaborating;  for  though  the  con 
nection  of  their  words  was  broken  before  it  reached 
the  gallery,  their  voices  were  distinctly  audible, 
and  gave  signs  of  their  abstraction.  They  were 
thinking  aloud.  If  they  had  met  together,  under 
the  supervision  of  some  artist  gifted  with  the  faculty 
of  illustrating  history  and  character  by  attitude 
and  expression,  who  designed  to  put  them,  in  fresco, 
on  the  walls  of  the  new  Senate  chamber,  the  com 
bination  could  not  have  been  more  appropriately 
arranged  than  chance  arranged  it  on  this  occasion. 
Toombs  sits  among  the  opposition  on  the  left,  Hun 
ter  and  Davis  on  the  right,  and  the  fact  that  the 
two  first  came  to  Davis'  seat — the  one  gravitating 


20  LIFE  OF  JEFFERSON  DAVIS. 

to  it  from  a  remote,  the  other  from  a  near  point — 
may  be  held  to  indicate  which  of  the  three  is  the 
preponderating  body  in  the  system  if  preponder 
ance  there  be,  and  whose  figure  should  occupy  the 
foreground  of  the  picture  if  any  precedence  is  to 
be  recorded.  Davis  sat  erect  and  composed ;  Hun 
ter,  listening,  rested  his  head  on  his  hand;  and 
Toombs,  inclining  forward,  was  speaking  vehe 
mently.  Their  respective  attitudes  were  no  bad 
illustration  of  their  individuality.  Davis  impressed 
the  spectator,  who  observed  the  easy  but  authori 
tative  bearing  with  which  he  put  aside  or  as 
sented  to  Toombs'  suggestions,  with  the  notion  of 
some  slight  superiority,  some  hardly  acknowledged 
leadership;  and  Hunter's  attentiveness  and  impas 
sibility  were  characteristic  of  his  nature,  for  his 
profundity  of  intellect  wears  the  guise  of  stolidity, 
and  his  continuous  study  that  of  inertia;  while 
Toombs'  quick  utterance  and  restless  head  bespoke 
his  nervous  temperament  and  activity  of  mind. 
But,  though  each  is  different  from  either  of  the 
others,  the  three  have  several  attributes  in  common. 
They  are  equally  eminent  as  statesmen  and  de 
baters  ;  they  are  devoted  to  the  same  cause ;  they 
are  equals  in  rank  and  rivals  in  ambition ;  and  they 
are  about  the  same  age,  and  neither  one — let  young 
America  take  notice — wears  either  beard  or  mus 
tache.  I  come  again  to  the  traits  that  distinguish 


SENATOR  DAVIS.  21 

them  from  each  other.  In  face  and  form,  Davis 
represents  the  Norman  type  with  singular  fidelity, 
if  my  conception  of  that  type  be  correct.  He  is 
tall  and  sinewy,  with  fair  hair,  grey  eyes,  which 
are  clear  rather  than  bright,  high  forehead,  straight 
nose,  thin,  compressed  lips,  and  pointed  chin.  His 
cheek  bones  are  hollow,  and  the  vicinity  of  his 
mouth  is  deeply  furrowed  with  intersecting  lines. 
Leanness  of  face,  length  and  sharpness  of  feature, 
length  of  limb,  and  intensity  of  expression,  rendered 
acute  by  angular,  facial  outline,  are  the  general 
characteristics  of  his  appearance." 

Events  now  moved  rapidly  towards  their  cul 
mination.  In  November,  1860,  Abraham  Lincoln 
was  elected  President  of  the  United  States.  He 
was  thought  by  the  Southern  people  to  hold  views 
and  intentions  hostile  to  their  interests  and  insti 
tutions — interests  and  institutions  that  they  claimed 
the  general  government  had  no  right  to  deal  with, 
and  which  had  been  left  by  the  Constitution  to  the 
management  of  the  respective  States.  South  Caro 
lina  was  the  first  State  to  withdraw  from  the  Union, 
having  adopted  her  Ordinance  of  Secession  on  De 
cember  20,  1860.  Mississippi  was  but  three  weeks 
behind  her ;  for  Mississippi  went  out  on  the  9th  day 
of  January,  1861.  So  soon  as  Mr.  Davis  received 
formal  notice  that  his  State  had  passed  her  act  of 
secession,  he  in  perfect  consistency  with  views  long 


22  LIFE  OF  JEFFERSON  DAVIS. 

held  and  frequently  proclaimed,  considered  his 
functions  in  the  United  States  Senate  were  at  an  end  ; 
and,  accordingly,  he  withdrew  from  that  body  on 
January  21,  1861.  Before  doing  so,  however,  he 

^  <v  ^  i?  ^  *-^ 

delivered  the  valedictory  address  given  below.  It 
seems  proper  to  give  the  speech  in  full,  in  order 
that  every  reader  may  judge  for  himself  as  to  Mr, 
Davis'  argument  in  justification  of  Mississippi,  and 
as  to  the  spirit  he  carried  with  him  from  the  Senate 
to  the  new  toils  and  responsibilities  to  which  he 
would  presently  be  called. 

"I  rise,  Mr.  President,  for  the  purpose  of  an 
nouncing  to  the  Senate  that  I  have  satisfactory 
evidence  that  the  State  of  Mississippi,  by  a  solemn 
ordinance  of  her  people,  in  convention  assembled, 
has  declared  her  separation  from  the  United  States. 
Under  these  circumstances,  of  course,  my  functions 
terminated  here.  It  has  seemed  to  me  proper, 


however,  that  I  should  appear  in  the  Senate  to 
announce  that  fact  to  my  associates,  and  I  will  say 
but  very  little  more.  The  occasion  does  not  invite 
me  to  go  into  argument  ;  and  my  physical  condition 
would  not  permit  me  to  do  so,  if  otherwise  ;  and 
yet  it  seems  to  become  me  to  say  something  on  the 
part  of  the  State  I  here  represent,  on  an  occasion 
so  solemn  as  this. 

"  It  is  known  to  Senators  who  have  served  with 


SENATOR  DAVIS.  23 

me  here,  that  I  have,  for  many  years,  advocated, 
as  an  essential  attribute  of  State  sovereignty,  the  j 
right  of  a  State  to  secede  from  the  Union.  There^ 
fore,  if  I  had  not  believed  there  was  justifiable 
cause ;  if  I  had  thought  that  Mississippi  was  acting 
without  sufficient  provocation,  or  without  an  exist 
ing  necessity,  I  should  still,  under  my  theory  of  the  H  , 
Government,  because  of  my  allegiance  to  the  State 
of  which  I  am  a  citizen,  have  been  bound  by  her 
action.  I,  however,  may  be  permitted  to  say  that  I 
do  think  she  has  justifiable  cause,  and  I  approve 
of  her  act.  I  conferred  with  her  people  before  that 
act  was  taken,  counseled  them  then  that  if  the 
state  of  things  which  they  apprehended  should  exist 
when  the  Convention  met,  they  should  take  the 
action  which  they  have  now  adopted. 

"  I  hope  none  who  hear  me  will  confound  this 
expression  of  mine  with  the  advocacy  of  the  right 
of  a  State  to  remain  in  the  Union,  and  to  disregard 
its  constitutional  obligations  by  the  nullification  of 
the  law.  Such  is  not  my  theory.  Nullification 
and  secession,  so  often  confounded,  are,  indeed, 
antagonistic  principles.  Nullification  is  a  remedy 
which  it  is  sought  to  apply  within  the  Union,  and 
against  the  agent  of  the  States.  It  is  only  to  be 
justified  when  the  agent  has  violated  his  constitu 
tional  obligations,  and  a  State,  assuming  to  judge 
for  itself,  denies  the  right  of  the  agent  thus  to  act, 


24  LIFE  OF  JEFFERSON  DAVIS. 

and  appeals  to  the  other  States  of  the  Union  for 
a  decision;  but  when  the  States  themselves,  and 
when  the  people _pf.  the ^  ..Sta^tes__Jiave_  so  acted  as  to 
convince  us  that^thej^jvill  not  regard  our  consti 
tutional  rjghts^then,  and  then  lor  tKeTTirst  time, 
arises  the  doctrine  of  secession  in  its  practical 
application. 

"iTgreat  man,  who  now  reposes  with  his  fathers, 
and  who  has  often  been  arraigned  for  a  want  of 
fealty  to  the  Union,  advocated  the  doctrine  of 
nullification  because  it  preserved  the  Union.  It 
was  because  of  his  deep-seated  attachment  to  the 
Union — his  determination  to  find  some  remedy  for 
existing  ills  short  of  a  severance  of  the  ties  which 
bound  South  Carolina  to  the  other  States,  that  Mr. 
Calhoun  advocated  the  doctrine  of  nullification, 
which  he  proclaimed  to  be  peaceful — to  be  within 
the  limits  of  State  power,  not  to  disturb  the  Union, 
but  only  to  be  a  means  of  bringing  the  agent  before 
the  tribunal  of  the  States  for  their  judgment. 

"  Secession  belongs  to  a  different  class  of  reme- 
I  dies.  It  is  to  be  justified  upon  the  basis  that  the 
States  are  Sovereign.  (There  was  a  time  when  none 
denied  it])  I  hope  the  time  may  come  again,  when 
a  better  comprehension  of  the  theory  of  our  Gov 
ernment,  and  the  inalienable  rights  of  the  people 
of  the  States,  will  prevent  any  one  from  denying 
that  each  State  is  a  sovereign,  and  thus  may  re- 


SENATOR  DAVIS.  25 

claim  the  grants  which  it  has  made  to  any  agent 
whomsoever. 

"  I,  therefore,  say  I  concur  in  the  action  of  the 
people  of  Mississippi,  believing  it  to  be  necessary 
and  proper,  and  should  have  been  bound  by  their 
action  if  my  belief  had  been  otherwise;  and  this 
brings  me  to  the  important  point  which  I  wish,  on 
this  last  occasion,  to  present  to  the  Senate.  It  is 
by  this  confounding  of  nullification  and  secession 
that  the  name  of  a  great  man,  whose  ashes  now 
mingle  with  his  mother  earth,  has  been  evoked  to 
justify  coercion  against  a  seceded  State.  The 
phrase,  '  to  execute  the  laws,'  was  an  expression 
which  General  Jackson  applied  to  the  case  of  a 
State  refusing  to  obey  the  laws  while  yet  a  member 
of  the  Union.  That  is  not  the  case  which  is  now\ 
presented.  The  laws  are  to  be  executed  over  the 
United  States,  and  upon  the  people  of  the  United 
States.  They  have  no  relation  to  any  foreign 
country.  It  is  at  perversion^Lterms— at  least  it  isf 
a  great  misapprehension  of  the  case — which  cites 
that  expression  for  application  to  a  State  which  has 
withdrawn  from  the  Union.  You  may  make  war 
on  a  foreign  State.  If  it  be  the  purpose  of  gentle 
men  they  may  make  war  against  a  State  which 
has  withdrawn  from  the  Union ;  but  there  are  no 
laws  of  the  United  States  to  be  executed  within 
the  limits  of  a  seceded  State.  A  State,  finding 


26  LIFE  OF  JEFFEKSON  DAVIS. 

herself  in  the  condition  in  which  Mississippi  has 
judged  she  is — in  which  her  safety  requires  thatf 
she  should  provide  for  the  maintenance  of  her  righl 
out  of  the  Union — surrenders  all  benefits  (and  t 
are  known  to  be  many),  deprives  herself  of  the 
advantages  (and  they  are  known  to  be  great),  severs 
all  the  ties  of  affection  (and  they  are  close  and  en 
dearing),  which  have  bound  her  to  the  Union,  and 
thus  divesting  herself  of  every  benefit — taking  upon 
herself  every  burden — she  claims  to  be  exempt! 

from  any  power JkL.execute  the  laws  of  the  United! 

States.,  within  her  limits. 

"  I  well  remember  an  occasion  when  Massachusetts 

was  arraigned  before   the  bar  of  the  Senate,  and 

<^jj(j^>$^ 
when  the  doctrine  of  coercion  was  rife,  and  to  be 

applied  against  her,  because  of  the  rescue  of  a 
fugitive  slave  in  Boston.  My  opinion  then  was  the 
same  that  it  is  now.  Not  in  a  spirit  of  egotism,! 
but  to  show  that  I  am  not  influenced,  in  my  opin-j 
ion,  because  the  case  is  my  own,  I  refer  to  that  time 
and  that  occasion,  as  containing  the  opinion  which 
I  then  entertained,  and  on  which  my  present  con 
duct  is  based.  I  then  said  that,  if  Massachusetts^ 
following  her  through  a  stated  line  of  conduct, 
choose  to  take  the  last  step  which  separates  her 
from  the  Union,  it  is  her  right  to  go,  and  I  will 
neither  vote  one  dollar  nor  one  man  to  coerce  her 
back ;  but  will  say  to  her,  God  speed  in  memory  of 


SENATOR  DAVIS.  27 

the  kind  associations  which  once  existed  between 
her  and  the  other  States. 

"  It  has  been  a  conviction  of  pressing  necessity —  j 
it  has  been_jj^ie^^  in 

the  Union,  of  the  rights  which  our  fathers  be-/ 
queathed  us — which  has  brought  Mississippi  into] 
her  present  decision.  She  has  heard  proclaimecf 
the  theory  that  all  men  are  created  free  and  equal, 
and  this  made  the  basis  of  attack  upon  her  social 
institutions;  and  the  sacred  Declaration  of  Inde 
pendence  has  been  invoked  to  maintain  the  position 
of  the  equality  of  the  races.  The  Declaration  of 
Independence  is  to  be  construed  by  the  circum 
stances  and  purposes  for  which  it  was  made.  The 
communities  were  declaring  their  independence ; 
the  people  of  those  communities  were  asserting  that 
no  man  was  born  (to  use  the  words  of  Mr.  Jefferson) 
booted  and  spurred,  to  ride  over  the  rest  of  man 
kind;  that  men  were  created  equal — meaning  the 
men  of  a  political  Community ;  that  there  was  no 
divine  right  to  rule;  that  no  man  inherited  the 
right  to  govern ;  that  there  were  no  classes  by 
which  power  and  place  descended  to  families,  but 
that  all  stations  were  equally  within  the  grasp  of 
each  member  of  the  body  politic.  These  were  the 
great  principles  they  announced;  these  were  the 
purposes  for  which  they  made  their  declaration ; 
these  were  the  ends  to  which  their  enunciation  was 


28  LIFE  OF  JEFFEESON  DAVIS. 

directed.  They  have  no  reference  to  the  slave; 
else,  how  happened  it,  that,  among  the  items  of 
arraignment  against  George  III.  was,  that  he  en- 
deavored  to  do  just  what  the  North  has  been 
endeavoring_joL  late  to  do,  to  stir  up  insurrection 
among  our  slaves.  Had  the  Declaration  announced 
that  the  negroes  were  free  and  equal,  how  was  the 
prince  to  be  arraigned  for  raising  up  insurrection 
among  them  ?  And  how  was  this  to  be  enumerated 
among  the  high  crimes  which  caused  the  colonies 
to  sever  their  connection  with  the  mother  country  ? 
When  our  constitution  was  formed,  the  same  idea 
was  rendered  more  palpable;  for  there  we  find 
provision  made  for  that  very  class  of  persons  as 
property;  they  were  not  put  upon  the  footing  of 
equality  with  white  men — not  even  upon  that  of 
paupers  and  convicts ;  but  so  far  as  representation 
was  concerned,  were  discriminated  against  as  a 
lower  caste,  only  to  be  represented  in  the  numerical 
proportion  of  three-fifths. 

"Then,  Senators,  we  recur  to  the  compact  which 
binds  us  together ;  we  recur  to  the  principles  upon 
which  our  Government  was  founded;  and  when 
you  deny  them,  and  when  you  deny  to  us  the  right 
to  withdraw  from  a  government,  which,  thus  per 
verted,  threatens  to  be  destructive  to  our  rights,  we 
but  tread  in  thepathofjour^  fathers^  when  we  pro 
claim  our  independence,  and  take  the  hazard. 


XL 


SENATOK  DAVIS.  29 

This  is  done,  not  in  hostility  to  others— not  to  in 
jure  any  section  of  the  country — not  even  for  our 
own  pecuniary  benefit;  J3ut_from  the  high  and 
solemn  motiVe__of  _defen^ing__and — protectia^TEe 
ngEtswe  inherited,  _aiii^  whick_ot_is^  our  duty  to 
transmit  u^horn  to  our  children.  ^^Ver^'^1 

"  I  find  in  myself,  perhaps,  a  type  of  the  general7 
feeling  of  my  constituents  towards  you.  I  am  sure 
I  feel  no  hostility  towards  you,  Senators  from  the/ 
North.  I  am  sure  there  is  not  one  of  you,  what 
ever  sharp  discussion  there  may  have  been  between 
us,  to  whom  I  cannot  now  say,  in  the  presence  of 
my  God,  I  wish  you  well ;  and  such,  I  am  sure,  is 
the  feeling  of  the  people  I  represent  towards  those 
you  represent.  I,  therefore,  feel  that  I  but  express 
their  desire,  when  I  say  I  hope,  and  they  hope, 
for  peaceable  relations  with  ^yoi^  though  we  must 
part.  They  mayBe^mutually  beneficial  to  us  in 
the  future,  as  they  have  been  in  the  past,  if  you-jio 
will.  The  reverse  may  bring  disaster  on  every 
portion  of  the  country;  and  if  you  will  have  it  thus,  -  ^^ 
the  God  of  our  fathers,  who  deliv-  ^SS^ 


ered^jisjrom  thej"power  ofjhe  lion.Jbo  protect  us 
from_the^avages  of  the  bear?  and  tnus,.  Cutting  our 
trust  iix^God,  and  in  our  firm  hearts  and  strong 
arms,  we  will  vindicatelEe^iglit  as  best  we  may. 

"In  the  course"  of  my  services  here,  associated, 
at  different  times,  with  a  great  variety  of  Senators, 


30  LIFE  OF  JEFFERSON  DAVIS. 

I  see  now  around  me  some  with  whom  I  have 
served  long;  there  have  been  points  of  collision, 
but  whatever  offence  there  has  been  to  me,  I  leave 
here, — I  ^aj*rj__mih^  . 

Whatever  offense  I  have  given,  which  has  not  been 
redressed,  or  for  which  satisfaction  has  not  been 
demanded,  I  have,  Senators,  in  this  hour  of  our 
parting,  toofier  you^ojL^apology  for  any  pain 
which,  in  the  heat  of  discussion,  I  have  inflicted. 
I  go  hence  unincumbered  of  the  remembrance  of 
any  injury  received,  and  having  discharged  the 
duty  of  making  the  only  reparation  in  my  power 
|for  any  injury  offered. 

"  Mr.  President  and  Senators,  having  made  the 
announcement  which  the  occasion  seemed  to  me  to 
require,  it  only  remains  for  me  to  bid  you  a  final 
adieu." 

Thus  a  stately  and  striking  form  that  had  long 
been  familiar  to  those  visiting  the  Senate  disap 
peared  from  its  precincts  forever. 

It  is  proper  here  to  add  a  short  clipping  that 
shows  the  impression  made  by  Mr.  Davis  upon  the 
employe's  of  the  Senate. 

Mr.  E.  V.  Murphy,  of  the  Senate  stenographic 
corps,  knew  Mr.  Davis  when  he  was  a  Senator,  and 
says  he  recollects  particularly  how  kind  Mr.  Davis 
was  to  all  the  employe's  about  the  Senate.  He 


SECRETARY  DAVIS.  31 

knew  them  all  personally,  and  would  ask  after 
them  and  after  their  families  where  they  had  any. 
He  complimented  the  stenographic  reports  of  the 
Senate.  He  was  a  favorite  with  all  the  employe's 
for  another  reason,  and  that  was  because  he  would 
always  endeavor  to  secure  extra  compensation  for 
them. 

SECRETARY  DAVIS. 

As  we  have  already  seen,  the  end  of  the  year 

1851  found    Mr.    Davis    living    quietly     on     his 
plantation   in   Mississippi,    a    retirement    resulting 
from  his  unsuccessful  canvass  for  the  office  of  Gov 
ernor  of  the  State.     The    Presidential   election   of 

1852  called  Franklin  Pierce,  of  New  Hampshire,  to 
the  chief-magistracy  of  the   nation.     He   was    the 
nominee  of  the  Democratic  party,    and  during  the 
canvass    Mr.    Davis   supported    him  most  heartily. 
President-elect  Pierce  offered  Mr.  Davis  a  place  in 
his  Cabinet,  which  he  at  first  declined,   but  after 
wards  the  portfolio  of  War  was  accepted.     In  the 
same    Cabinet   Wm.    L.    Marcy   was    Secretary   of 
State,    and    Caleb   Gushing  was    Attorney-General. 
Mr.  Davis  thus  speaks  of  his  administration  of  the 
affairs  of  the  department  entrusted  to  him  : 

"During  these  four  years,  I  proposed  the  intro 
duction  of  camels  for  service  on  the  Western  plains, 
a  suggestion  which  was  adopted.  I  also  introduced 
an  improved  system  of  infantry  tactics ;  effected  the 


32  LIFE  OF  JEFFERSON  DAVIS. 

substitution  of  iron  for  wood  in  gun-carriages ;  se 
cured  rifled  muskets  and  rifles  and  the  use  of  Minnie 
balls,  and  advocated  the  increase  of  the  defenses  of 
the  sea  coast  by  heavy  guns  and  the  use  of  large- 
grain  powder. 

"  While  in  the  Senate  I  had  advocated,  as  a  mili 
tary  necessity  and  as  a  means  of  preserving  the 
Pacific  Territory  to  the  Union,  the  construction  of  a 
military  railway  across  the  continent;  and,  as  Sec 
retary  of  War,  I  was  put  in  charge  of  the  surveys 
of  the  various  routes  proposed.  Perhaps  for  a  simi 
lar  reason — my  previous  action  in  the  Senate — I 
was  also  put  in  charge  of  the  extension  of  the  United 
States  Capitol. 

"  The  administration  of  Mr.  Pierce  presents  the 
single  instance  of  an  Executive  whose  Cabinet  wit 
nessed  no  change  of  persons  during  the  whole 
term." 

The  following  is  clipped  from  the  New  York  Her 
ald  : 

"The  only  man  now  living  who  served  under 
Secretary  Davis'  immediate  administration  in  the 
Secretary's  office  is  Major  Wm.  B.  Lee,  who  was  one 
of  the  seven  clerks  then  forming  the  force  in  that 
division.  He  is  still  employed  in  the  same  office. 
He  remembers  Mr.  Davis  very  well.  He  said  this 
morning  : — '  He  was  one  of  the  best  Secretaries  of 
War  who  ever  served.  He  was  a  kind,  social  man, 


3    S 

I   5 


-  c 


SECRETARY  DAVIS.  33 

very  considerate  and  pleasant  to  serve  under.  I 
never  heard  a  complaint  from  one  of  the  clerks. 
Socially,  he  was  a  most  charming  man,  officially, 
very  pleasant.  He  was  a  warm  friend  and  a  bitter 
enemy.  I  knew  him  many  years,  and  as  a  man  I 
found  him  a  very  good  friend.  He  was  a  regular 
bull-dog  when  he  formed  an  opinion,  for  he  would 
never  let  go.  About  the  only  very  important  event 
of  his  administration  was  his  quarrel  with  General 
Scott,  which  was  very  bitter,  and  caused  a  great 
deal  of  hard  feeling.' 

"  Speaking  of  the  time  when  Mr.  Davis  was  Sec 
retary  of  War,  in  the  administration  of  President 
Pierce,  General  Montgomery  C.  Meigs,  formerly 
quartermaster-general  of  the  army,  said  : — '  My  ac 
quaintance  with  Mr.  Davis  began  upon  the  occasion 
of  my  submitting  to  him  the  plans  for  the  introduc 
tion  of  water  to  the  city  of  Washington.  The  Act 
of  Congress  providing  for  a  supply  of  water  to  the 
city,  placed  the  direction  of  the  work  in  the  hands 
of  the  President,  who  devolved  it  upon  the  Secretary 
of  War  as  his  representative.  I  was  thus  brought 
into  a  close  intimacy  with  Mr.  Davis  and  became 
much  attached  to  him,  and  I  think  that  this  feeling 
was  reciprocated  in  some  measure  by  himself.  Mr. 
Davis  was  a  most  courteous  and  amiable  man  in 
those  days,  and  I  found  intercourse  with  him  very 

agreeable.     He  was  a  man,  too,  of  marked  ability, 
3 


34  LIFE  OF  JEFFERSON  DAVIS. 

and  I  quite  looked  up  to  him  and  regarded  him  as 
one  of  the  great  men  of  the  time.' " 

PRESIDENT  DAVIS. 

When  Mr.  Davis  retired  from  the  United  States 
Senate  on  January  21,  1861,  he  went  imme 
diately  to  Mississippi.  While  journeying  to  his 
home  he  was  appointed  commander-in-chief  of  the 
forces  that  the  State  was  raising  to  meet  a  conflict 
that  seemed  inevitable.  He  had  not  time  to  proceed 
far  with  the  organization  before  he  received  notifica 
tion  that  he  had  been  elected  Provisional  President 
of  the  Confederate  States.  He  reluctantly  accepted 
the  office,  and  was  inaugurated  at  Montgomery, 
Alabama,  on  the  18th  day  of  February,  1861. 
With  what  sentiments  and  purposes  he  entered  upon 
his  duties  may  be  gathered  from  the  following  quo 
tations  taken  from  his  inaugural  address : 

"  I  enter  upon  the  duties  of  the  office  to  which  I 
have  been  chosen,  with  the  hope  that  the  beginning 
of  our  career  as  a  Confederacy  may  not  be 
obstructed  by  hostile  opposition  to  our  enjoyment  of 
the  separate  existence  and  independence  which  we 
have  asserted,  and,  with  the  blessing  of  Providence, 
intend  to  maintain.  Our  present  condition,  achieved 
in  a  manner  unprecedented  in  the  history  of  nations, 
illustrates  the  American  idea  that  government  rests 
\on  the  consent  of  the  governed,  and  that  it  is  the 


JEFFERSON  DAVIS. 

(From  a  Photograph  taken  when  President  of  the  Confederate  States.) 


PRESIDENT  DAVIS.  35 

right  of  the  people  to  alter  or  abolish  governments 
whenever  they  become  destructive  of  the  ends  for 
which  they  were  established. 

"  Sustained  by  the  consciousness  that  the  transi 
tion  from  the  former  Union  to  the  present  Confed 
eracy  has  not  proceeded  from  a  disregard  on  our 
part  of  just  obligations,  or  any  failure  to  perform 
any  Constitutional  duty;  moved  by  no  interest  or 
passion  to  invade  the  rights  of  others ;  anxious  to 
cultivate  peace  and  commerce  with  all  nations,  if 
we  may  not  hope  to  avoid  war,  we  may  at  least  ex 
pect  that  posterity  will  acquit  us  of  having  need 
lessly  engaged  in  it. 

"  Reverently  let  us  invoke  of  the  God  of  our 
fathers  to  guide  and  protect  us  in  our  efforts  to  per 
petuate  the  principles  which,  by  His  blessing,  they 
were  able  to  vindicate,  establish  and  transmit  to 
their  posterity,  and,  with  a  continuance  of  His  favor 
ever  gratefully  acknowledged,  we  may  hopefully 
look  forward  to  success,  to  peace,  and  to  prosperity." 

Great  events  now  followed  each  other  in  rapid 
succession.  On  March  4th,  President  Lincoln  was 
inaugurated.  On  the  next  day,  Messrs.  Crawford 
and  Forsyth  arrived  in  Washington,  as  Commission 
ers  from  President  Davis  "to  negotiate  friendly 
relations  between  the  United  States  and  the  Confed 
erate  States  of  America,  and  for  the  settlement  of 
all  questions  of  disagreement  between  the  two  govern- 


36  LIFE  OF  JEFFERSON  DAVIS. 

ments  on  principles  of  right,  justice,  equity  and  good 
faith."  On  the  12th  March  they  addressed  a  for 
mal  communication  to  Mr.  Seward,  Secretary  of 
War,  fully  revealing  the  nature  and  objects  of  their 
mission,  and  especially  offering  to  treat  with  refer 
ence  to  the  withdrawal  of  the  Federal  forces  from 
Forts  Sumter  and  Pickens  in  Charleston  harbor. 
The  embassy  was  met,  first,  by  promises  to  evacuate 
these  strongholds  within  the  limits  of  the  Southern 
Confederacy,  and  then  by  a  secret  attempt  to  re-in- 
force  them.  When  it  became  known  to  President 
Davis  that  the  expedition  had  actually  sailed,  he 
issued  to  General  Beauregard,  commmanding  in 
Charleston,  an  order  to  undertake  the  reduction  of 
forts.  He  opened  fire  on  April  the  12th,  and  on  the 
13th  the  surrender  occurred.  On  the  15th,  Presi 
dent  Lincoln  issued  a  proclamation  calling  for  sev 
enty-five  thousand  men,  and  stating  that  they  would 
be  used  for  "  maintaining  the  honor,  the  integrity 
and  existence  of  the  Union,  and  the  perpetuity  of 
the  popular  government."  On  May  the  6th,  Vir 
ginia  became  a  member  of  the  Southern  Confederacy. 
On  the  20th  of  May  the  seat  of  the  Confederate 
Government  was  removed  from  Montgomery  to  Rich 
mond,  and  a  few  days  thereafter  Mr.  Davis  arrived 
in  the  latter  city  and  established  there  an  adminis 
tration  on  which  the  observation  of  the  world  was 
to  be  focused  through  four  eventful  years.  It  was 


PRESIDENT  DAVIS.  37 

evident  now  that  war  was  at  hand.  The  battle  at 
Manassas  in  July  was  but  the  result  of  preparations 
that  had  been  going  on  for  two  months.  When  it 
was  known  that  the  attack  was  about  to  be  made  by 
the  Federal  forces  gathered  at  Washington,  Presi 
dent  Davis  took  train  and  hastened  to  join  the  Con 
federate  army.  He  reached  the  scene  of  conflict 
just  as  the  enemy  were  retiring,  panic-stricken,  from 
the  field.  In  his  "  Rise  and  Fall  of  the  Southern 
Confederacy,"  he  gives  a  very  graphic  description  of 
what  he  saw  and  heard  along  the  road  that  led  to 
the  ground  where  the  deadly  struggle  was  going  on. 
When,  two  days  after,  he  returned  to  Richmond,  a 
large  crowd  met  him  at  the  station.  As  he  stepped 
from  the  cars  he  made  the  following  impromptu 
speech : 

"  FELLOW-CITIZENS  OF  THE  CONFEDERATE  STATES  : — 

"  I  rejoice  with  you  this  evening  in  those  better 
and  happier  feelings  which  we  all  experience,  as 
compared  with  the  anxieties  of  three  days  ago. 
Your  little  army,  derided  for  its  want  of  numbers, — 
derided  for  its  want  of  arms, — derided  for  its  lack  of 
all  the  essential  material  of  war, — has  met  the 
grand  army  of  the  enemy,  routed  it  at  every  point, 
and  it  now  flies  in  inglorious  retreat  before  our  vic 
torious  columns.  We  have  taught  them  a  lesson  in 
their  invasion  of  the  sacred  soil  of  Virginia;  we 


38  LIFE  OF  JEFFERSON  DAVIS. 

have   taught   them   that   the  grand   old  mother  of 
Washington  still  nurses  a  band  of  heroes  ;  and  a  yet 
bloodier    and    far    more   fatal   lesson  awaits  them 
unless  they   speedily  acknowledge  that  freedom  to 
which  you  were  born."     President  Davis  continued 
to  administer  affairs  under  the  Provisional  Govern 
ment  until  February,  1862,  when  that  expired  by 
limitation,  and  the  Permanent  Government  was  set 
up.     On  February  22d,  Washington's  birthday,  and 
beside  the  monument  erected  to  his  memory  by  the 
State  that  claimed  him  as  her  own,  Mr.  Davis  deliv 
ered  his  inaugural  address  as  the  President  of  the 
Confederate  States  under  their  Permanent  Govern 
ment.     The  day  was  exceedingly  uncomfortable  and 
gloomy.     The   atmosphere    was  chill  and  the  rain 
was  poured  down  from  the  heavens,  which  seemed 
to  have  gone  into  mourning  over  recent  reverses  to 
the  Confederate  Army.     The  last  sentence  of  the 
address  was  as  follows  : 

"  With  humble  gratitude  and  adoration,  acknowl 
edging  the  Providence  which  has  so  visibly  pro 
tected  the  Confederacy  during  its  brief  but  eventful 
career,  to  thee,  0  God  !  I  trustingly  commit  myself, 
and  prayerfully  invoke  thy  blessing  on  my  country 
and  its  cause."  It  would  not  be  suitable  here  to 
follow  President  Davis  through  all  the  events  that 
were  crowded  rapidly  into  the  period  during  which 
he  was  the  Chief  Magistrate  of  the  Southern  Con- 


PRESIDENT  DAVIS.  39 

federacy.     But    some     reminiscences    lingering    in 
Richmond  may  be  very  properly  given. 

HISTORIC  BOOMS. 

During  his  residence  here  the  President's  office  and 
the  Cabinet  rooms  and  other  offices  were  in  the  gran 
ite  building  now  used  as  a  post-office,  custom-house 
and  for  other  Governmental  purposes.  Mr.  Davis' 
house  was  at  the  corner  of  Twelfth  and  Clay,  almost 
opposite  and  about  a  dozen  blocks  north  of  his 
office.  It  was  his  custom  to  walk  to  the  office  in 
the  morning.  His  usual  route  was  through  the 
Capitol  Square.  About  ten  o'clock  each  morning  he 
could  be  seen  coming  down  the  graveled  walks  to 
the  executive  office.  His  private  office  in  those  days 
was  the  one  now  and  almost  ever  since  used  as  the 
United  States  Court-room.  There  it  was,  amid  such 
familiar  scenes,  the  President  was  arraigned  before 
United  States  Circuit  Judge  Underwood  on  the  13th 
of  May,  1867,  to  be  tried  for  treason.  He  had  been 
arrested  in  Georgia,  and  committed  to  a  casement  at 
Fortress  Monroe,  where  he  remained  for  weeks. 
He  was  finally  brought  here  and  came  before  the 
notorious  Underwood,  who  bailed  him,  and  that  was 
the  last  ever  heard  of  that  famous  trial.  The  Cab 
inet  room,  the  one  in  which  Mr.  Davis  held  his 
council  with  his  official  household,  was  the  one  just 
opposite  the  President's,  and  for  years  used  by  the 


40  '    LIFE  OF  JEFFERSON  DAVIS. 

clerk  of  the  United  States  District  Court.  It  was 
there  that  all  of  the  military  movements  were  dis 
cussed  by  the  head  of  the  Confederacy  and  his 
advisers. 

INTERESTING  REMINISCENCES. 

"  It  was  in  the  early  part  of  the  year  1865  that 
the  writer,  one  of  a  secret  joint  committee  of  the 
Legislature  of  Virginia,  called  upon  President  Davis 
at  his  room  in  the  custom-house  in  Richmond.  The, 
spokesman  of  the  committee,  addressing  the  Presi 
dent,  informed  him  that  the  Legislature  of  Virginia 
had  directed  the  committee  to  inquire  whether  any 
further  legislation  could  be  suggested  in  aid  of  the 
Confederate  cause.  His  response  can  never  be  for 
gotten  by  any  who  heard  it.  There  was  in  it  the 
eloquence  of  deep  feeling  and  the  energy  of  an  undy 
ing  resolve.  While  thanking  the  State,  through  its 
committee,  for  its  kindly  offer,  he  added  that  he 
thought  Virginia  had  done  her  full  duty,  that  her 
fair  bosom  had  been  furrowed  by  the  ploughshare  of 
war,  and  that  the  bones  of  her  gallant  sons  were 
bleaching  on  every  battle-field,  and  that  all  he  could 
ask  was  that  she  would  not  waver  in  her  confidence  in 
the  government.  There  was  a  pathos  and  depth  of 
emotion  in  his  remarks  that  impressed  every  mem 
ber  of  the  committee  with  the  conviction  that  they 
were  the  utterances  of  a  heart  full  of  heroic  fire  and 
that  felt  no  fear,  though  the  clouds  were  dark  and 


•B\  \\  \\  \\  \\  \\v\\\vV 


W  0) 

C/3        > 

B  ° 


o    s 


PBESIDENT  DAVIS.  41 

the  auguries  to  the  common  mind  seemed  pregnant 
of  ill." 

No  one  in  Richmond,  or  for  that  matter  in  the 
South,  outside  of  his  own  family,  saw  more  of  Pres 
ident  Davis  in  those  days  than  Mr.  Win.  H.  Davies. 
.That  gentleman,  when  about  nineteen  years  of  age, 
entered  the  President's  service  as  confidential  mes 
senger.  He  was  with  him  from  the  time  Mr.  Davies 
came  here  from  Montgomery,  Ala.,  until  the  night 
of  evacuation.  Referring  to  the  Cabinet  meetings, 
Mr.  Davies  said : 

"  General  Robert  E.  Lee  was  the  only  person 
ever  permitted  to  enter  the  Cabinet  unannounced. 
When  he  came  in  I  merely  opened  the  doors,  and 
he  walked  into  the  council  chamber. 

A  LOVABLE  MAN. 

"  Yes,  he  was  one  of  the  most  lovable  men  I  ever 
knew.  He  was  always  dignified,  calm  and  thor 
oughly  well-poised,  but  he  treated  everybody  around 
him  with  courtesy.  With  me  he  was  more  like  a 
father  than  an  employer.  Mr.  Davis  was  a  fine 
rider — the  finest,  I  think,  I  ever  knew.  It  was  his 
custom  to  ride  out  three  or  four  times  a  week,  or  as 
much  oftener  as  the  weather  and  his  official  duties 
permitted.  A  favorite  route  was  up  Clay  Street  in 
the  direction  of  Camp  Lee. 


42  LIFE  OF  JEFFEKSON  DAVIS. 

ATTEMPTED  ASSASSINATION. 

"  He  was  nearly  always  alone,  never  having  the 
slightest  fear  of  his  life.  This,  by  the  way,  came 
near  getting  him  into  trouble  one  evening.  I 
remember  it  just  as  well  as  if  it  only  occurred  yes 
terday.  The  President  rode  out  the  Bloody  Kun 
road.  When  just  below  Rockett's  some  one  fired  a 
pistol  at  him  from  ambush.  Luckily,  the  would-be 
assassin  missed  his  mark.  The  man  was  subse 
quently  found  concealed  in  the  roof  of  one  of  the 
shanties  in  the  neighborhood  and  arrested.  He  was 
never  prosecuted,  though.  This  incident  never 
alarmed  Mr.  Davis,  nor  did  he  permit  it  to  interfere 
with  his  evening  equestrian  exercise.  He  still  con 
tinued  this  unaccompanied. 

THE  EVACUATION. 

"  On  the  Sunday  night  of  the  evacuation  of  Rich 
mond,  I  was  at  the  President's  mansion  assisting  in 
packing  up  to  go  South.  The  President  had  re 
ceived  several  telegrams  that  day  from  General  Lee 
and  other  commanders  apprising  him  of  the  condi 
tion  of  affairs,  and,  of  course,  we  knew  that  the  end 
had  come.  All  around  us  in  the  Executive  Man 
sion  was  bustle  and  excitement  incident  to  such  an 
occasion.  I  remember  well,  just  before  the  time  for 
departure  arrived,  Mr.  Davis  sat  on  a  divan  in  his 


PRESIDENT  DAVIS.  43 

study,  sad,  but  calm  and  dignified.  He  talked 
pleasantly  with  those  around  him.  \Yhen  his  car 
riage  drove  up  to  the  door  to  carry  him  to  the  depot 
Mr.  Davis  lighted  a  cigar,  took  a  seat  in  the  convey 
ance  and  was  driven  to  the  Danville  depot,  where 
he  took  the  train  for  the  South." 

SUPPLEMENTING  AN  INADEQUATE  SALAEY. 

In  the  early  days  of  the  Confederacy  there  were 
frequent  receptions  and  levees  at  the  Executive 
Mansion,  but  in  the  last  year  or  so  these  were  pretty 
well  discontinued.  Mr.  Davis,  as  the  President  of 
the  Confederacy,  received  a  salary  of  $25,000,  and 
this  in  Confederate  money.  Towards  the  close  of 
the  struggle  the  purchasing  capacity  of  that  amount 
was  not  sufficient  to  have  maintained  a  small  family 
in  the  humble  walks  of  life.  Despite  these  facts,  all 
say  that  the  President  would  never  accept  a  cent 
from  the  government  except  his  salary.  Forage  for 
his  horses  and  other  things  could  have  been  drawn 
from  the  Government,  but  his  sterling  and  conscien 
tious  scruples  of  honor  would  never  for  a  moment 
entertain  the  idea  of  stooping  to  any  of  these  things. 
A  gentleman  connected  with  the  President  in  those 
pinching  times  says  :  "  I  disposed  of  silverware  and 
other  household  articles  of  value  for  Mr.  Davis  to 
supplement  his  salary.  He  refused,  too,  to  accept 
from  the  city  of  Richmond  the  house  in  which  he 


44  LIFE  OF  JEFFERSON  DAVIS. 

dwelt.     This  was  offered   in  fee-simple,  but  grace 
fully  declined." 

SLOW  TO  FOEGET  A  WRONG. 

Mr.  Davis  was  a  man  slow  to  forget  a  serious 
wrong.  This  was  shown  in  his  treatment  of  the 
Emperor  Napoleon.  Mr.  Davis  thought  that  the 
former  acted  treacherously  towards  him  in  the 
course  he  pursued  about  France  recognizing  the 
Southern  Confederacy.  When  Mr.  Davis  visited 
Paris,  some  time  after  the  close  of  the  war,  Napoleon 
sent  a  special  messenger  to  him  with  a  pressing  invi 
tation  to  call  on  him.  "  Tell  your  majesty,"  said 
Mr.  Davis  to  the  messenger,  "  with  my  compliments, 
that  I  am  much  obliged,  but  if  he  wants  to  see  me 
he  must  call  on  me." 

HIS  VIGOROUS  PERSONALITY. 

Very  few  persons,  even  those  most  intimately 
associated  with  him,  could  grasp  the  true  character 
of  the  man.  A  distinguished  ex-Confederate,  whose 
duties  during  the  war  brought  him  in  official  con 
tact  with  Mr.  Davis,  says : 

"  He  was  a  hard  man  to  understand.  No  one 
could  fail  to  appreciate  his  elevated  standard  of 
manhood,  his  lofty  integrity,  his  remarkable  ability. 
Yet  it  was  hard  to  realize  how  he  could  be  so  wedded 
to  his  own  opinions  as  to  turn  absolutely  and  invari- 


HIS  LAST  VISIT  TO  KICHMOND.  45 

ably  a  deaf  ear  to  all  counsel  which  conflicted  with 
them.  He  never  forgot  a  friend  and  never  forgave 
an  enemy.  Mr.  Davis  used  as  pure  English  as  any 
man  I  have  ever  read  after.  His  style  of  composi 
tion  was  remarkably  graceful  and  eloquent,  and 
many  of  his  addresses  during  the  war  were  couched 
in  such  language  as  to  thrill  through  and  through 
the  coldest  of  natures.  Literally  it  can  be  affirmed 
he  never  said  a  foolish  thing.  While  he  might  often 
be  considered  by  some  as  arbitrary  and  despotic  in 
his  conduct  of  public  affairs,  no  man  ever  at  the 
head  of  a  government  was  more  scrupulously  con 
scientious  in  abiding  by  the  strict  letter  of  the  Con 
stitution  and  law." 

.  HIS  LAST  VISIT  TO  KICHMOND. 

The  ex-President  returned  to  Richmond  but  once 
after  his  trial.  The  occasion  of  that'  visit  was  to 
attend  the  Robert  E.  Lee  memorial  service  held 
here  in  Dr.  Moore's  church.  On  that  occasion  he 
was  received  with  wild  enthusiasm. 

The  January  number  of  Belford's  Magazine  con 
tains  the  autobiography  of  the  late  Jefferson  Davis 
and  an  article  by  him  on  Anderson ville  prison,  to 
which  his  recent  death  lends  extraordinary  interest. 

No  one  question  connected  with  the  Civil  War 
has  occasioned  such  bitter  debate,  or  so  widespread 
a  feeling  in  the  North  as  the  alleged  inhurrian 


46  LIFE  OF  JEFFERSON  DAVIS. 

• 

treatment  of  Federal  prisoners  of  war  in  the  South. 
Discussing  the  subject  with  justice  and  candor,  Mr. 
Davis  shows  how  much  of  this  ill  feeling  rests  upon 
misapprehension  and  falsehood,  and,  what  will  be  a 
sharp  revelation  to  very  many  persons,  that  the  suf 
ferings,  and  hardships  of  Confederate  prisoners  in 
Northern  prisons  not  only  equaled  but  even  ex 
ceeded  those  of  Union  prisoners  at  Andersonville 
and  elsewhere.  The  writer  supports  his  statements 
with  a  mass  of  proof  which  no  upright  mind  can 
refuse  to  credit  and  which  puts  a  new  face  upon  the 
ancient  feud. 

"Andersonville,"  he  says,  "was  selected  after 
careful  investigation  for  the  following  reasons  :  It 
was  in  a  high  pine- wood  region,  in  a  productive 
farming  country,  had  never  been  devastated  by  the 
enemy,  was  well  watered  and  near  to  Americus,  a 
central  depot  for  collecting  the  tax  in  kind  and  pur 
chasing  provisions.  The  climate  was  mild,"  and 
there  were  no  "recognizable  sources  of  disease." 
Persistence  on  the  part  of  the  United  States  in  re 
fusing  to  exchange  prisoners  "  caused  so  large  an  in 
crease  in  the  number  of  the  captured  sent  to  Ander 
sonville  as  to  exceed  the  accommodation  provided 
and  thus  augment  the  discomfort  and  disease  of 
confinement.  ...  It  was  not  starvation,  as  has 
been  alleged,  but  acclimation,  unsuitable  diet  and 
despondency  which  were  the  potent  agents  of  dis- 


ANDERSONVILLE  PRISON.  47 

ease  and  death.  Statements  from  gentlemen  of 
high  standing,  who  speak  disinterestedly,  are  sub 
mitted  as  conclusive  on  the  question  of  •'  quantity ' 
of  food  at  Andersonville  prison."  Quoting  from  a 
letter,  Mr.  Davis  says :  " '  I  can  with  perfect  truth 
declare  as  my  conviction  that  General  Winder,  who 
had  control  of  the  prisoners,  was  an  honest,  upright 
and  humane  gentleman.  He  had  the  reputation  of 
treating  the  prisoners  confided  to  his  general  super 
vision  with  great  kindness  and  consideration.  .  .  . 
Both  the  President  and  Secretary  of  War  always 
manifested  great  anxiety  that  the  prisoners  should 
be  kindly  treated  and  amply  provided  with  food  to 
the  extent  of  our  means.' "  Again,  Mr.  Lawson 
quotes :  " '  The  Federal  prisoners  were  removed  to 
Southwestern  Georgia  in  the  early  part  of  1864,  to 
secure  a  more  abundant  supply  of  food.' "  Quoting 
from  Austin  Flint,  Jr.'s,  "  Physiology  of  Man,"  Mr. 
Davis  says  :  " ;  The  effects  of  salt  meats  and  farina 
ceous  food  (at  Andersonville)  without  vegetables 
were  manifest  in  the  great  prevalence  of  scurvy. 
The  scorbutic  condition,  thus  induced,  modified  the 
course  of  every  disease,  poisoned  every  wound,  and 
lay  at  the  foundation  of  those  obstinate  and  exhaust 
ive  diarrhoeas  and  dysenteries  which  swept  off  thou 
sands  of  those  unfortunate  men/  " — i.e.,  the  Federal 
prisoners  of  Andersonville.  "  President  Davis  had 
permitted  three  of  the  Andersonville  prisoners  to  go 


48  LIFE  OF  JEFFERSON  DAVIS. 

to  Washington  to  try  and  change  the  determination 
of  their  Government  and  procure  a  resumption  of  ex 
changes.  The  prisoners  knew  of  the  failure  of  their 
mission  when  I  was  at  Andersonville,  and  the  effect 
was  to  plunge  the  great  majority  of  them  into  the 
deepest  melancholy,  home-sickness  and  despondency. 
V  .  .  The  same  Captain  Wirz  who  was  tried  and 
hung  as  a  murderer,  warmly  urged  improvements 
for  the  benefit  of  the  unhappy  prisoners  under  his 
charge.  ...  I  mention  these  facts  to  show  that  he 
(Captain  Wirz)  was  not  the  monster  he  was  after 
wards  represented  to  be,  when  his  blood  was  called 
for  by  infuriate  fanaticism.  .  .  .  The  facts  alluded 
to  satisfied  me  that  he  was  a  humane  man.  .  .  „ 
The  real  cause  of  all  the  protracted  sufferings  of 
prisoners,  North  and  South,  is  directly  due  to  the 
inhuman  refusal  of  the  Federal  Government  to 
exchange  prisoners  of  war.  .  .  .  The  greatest 
difficulty  was  experienced  in  procuring  medicines 
and  anti-scorbutics.  These  were  made  contraband 
by  order  of  the  Federal  Government.  .  .  .  For 
a  period  of  some  three  months  Captain  Wirz  (who 
had  himself  suffered  from  gangrene  in  an  old  wound) 
and  a  few  faithful  officers  were  engaged  night  and 
day  in  ministering  to  the  sick  and  dying.  ..  , . .  .. 
In  his  trial  certain  Federal  witnesses  swore  to  his 
(Captain  Wirz)  killing  certain  prisoners  in  August, 
1864,  when  he  was  actually  absent  on  sick  leave 


EX-PKESIDENT  DAVIS.  49 

in  Augusta,  Ga.,  at  the  time."  Quoting  from  the 
words  of  a  Federal  prisoner,  in  relation  to  the  food 
served  the  prisoners,  of  which,  in  quantity,  there 
was  no  lack,  "  it  was  the  ordinary  diet  of  the  Con 
federate  Army,  and  they  had  nothing  else  to  give 
us.  ...  The  cooks  were  our  own  men.  .  .  . 
In  reference  to  the  report  that  Captain  Wirz  beat 
the  prisoners,  it  was  certainly  unjust,  because  his 
right  shoulder  had  been  broken."  Wirz  was  assured 
that  if  he  would  implicate  Jefferson  Davis  with 
the  Andersonville  atrocities  his  sentence  would  be 
commuted.  "  To  which  "Wirz  replied :  '  I  know 
nothing  about  Jefferson  Davis.  He  had  no  con 
nection  with  me  as  to  what  was  done  at  Anderson- 
ville.' " 

Mr.  Davis  goes  on  to  show  that  the  Confederate 
prisoners  in  Northern  prison-pens  were  treated  quite 
as  badly  from  the  same  causes,  i.  e.,  lack  of  habitual 
food,  over-crowding,  the  diseases  of  men  crowded 
together,  home-sickness,  etc.,  as  were  Northern 
prisoners  at  the  South. 

EX-PKESIDENT  DAVIS. 

On  Sunday,  April  2,  1865,  while  President  Davis 
was  seated  quietly  in  his  pew  in  St.  Paul's  Church, 
he  received  official  information  that  General  Lee's 
lines  before  Petersburg  had  been  broken,  and  that  it 
was  necessary  for  the  Confederate  Government  to 


50  LIFE  OF  JEFFERSON  DAVIS. 

evacuate  Richmond.  On  that  night  he  left  the  city. 
On  April  3d  he  reached  Danville,  Va.,  where  he 
remained  until  tidings  came  of  the  surrender  of 
General  Lee's  army.  *  We  next  find  him  at  Greens 
boro',  N.  C.,  where  he  held  a  consultation  with 
Generals  Johnston  and  Beauregard.  On  the  18th  of 
April  he  arrived  at  Charlotte,  in  the  same  State. 
Here  he  remained  nearly  a  week,  and  during  his 
stay  he  received  intelligence  of  the  assassination 
of  President  Lincoln.  Concerning  the  crime  he  said, 
"  I  certainly  have  no  special  regard  for  Mr.  Lincoln, 
but  there  are  a  great  many  men  of  whose  end  I 
would  much  rather  hear  than  his.  I  fear  it  will  be 
disastrous  to  our  people,  and  I  regret  it  deeply." 
Here  may  be  given  an  extract  from  Ex-President 
Davis'  autobiography  from  Belford's  Magazine  : 

"  After  General  Lee  was  forced  to  surrender,  and 
General  Johnston  consented  to  do  so,  I  started,  with 
a  very  few  of  the  men  who  volunteered  to  accom 
pany  me,  for  the  trans-Mississippi ;  but,  hearing  on 
the  road  that  marauders  were  pursuing  my  family, 
whom  I  had  not  seen  since  they  left  Richmond,  but 
knew  to  be  en  route  to  the  Florida  coast,  I  changed 
my  direction,  and,  after  a  long  and  hard  ride,  found 
them  encamped  and  threatened  by  a  robbing  party. 
To  give  them  the  needed  protection  1  traveled  with 
them  for  several  days,  until  in  the  neighborhood  of 
Irvinsville,  Ga.,  'when  I  supposed  I  could  safely 


S          Td 

o    s 


I- 

1 1 


OS 


EX-PRESIDENT  DAVIS.  51 

leave   them.     But  hearing,  about  nightfall,  that  a 
party  of  marauders  were  to  attack  the  camp  that 
night,  and  supposing  them  to  be  pillaging  deserters 
from  both  armies  and  that  the  Confederates  would 
listen  to  me,  I  awaited  their  coming,  lay  down  in 
my  traveling  clothes  and  fell  asleep.     Late  in  the 
night  my  colored  coachman  aroused  me  with  the 
intelligence   that  the   camp  was   attacked,    and    I 
stepped  out  of  the  tent  where  my  wife  and  children 
were  sleeping,  and  saw  at  once  that  the  assailants 
were  troops  deploying  around  the  encampment.     I 
so   informed   my   wife,   who   urged   me   to   escape. 
After  some  hesitation  I  consented,  and  a  servant 
woman   started  with  me  carrying  a   bucket,  as  if 
going  to  the  spring  for  water.     One  of  the  surround 
ing  troops  ordered  me  to  halt  and   demanded  my 
surrender.     I  advanced  toward  the  trooper,  throw 
ing  off  a  shawl  which  my  wife  had  put  over  my 
shoulders.      The  trooper  aimed  his  carbine,  when 
my  wife,  who  witnessed  the  act,  rushed  forward  and 
threw  her  arms  around  me,  thus  defeating  my  inten 
tion,  which  was,  if  the  trooper  missed  his  aim,  to 
try  and  unhorse  him  and  escape  with  his   horse. 
Then,  with  every  species  of  petty  pillage  and  offen 
sive  exhibition,   I  was  taken  from  point  to   point 
until  incarcerated  in  Fortress  Monroe.     There  I  was 
imprisoned  for  two  years  before  being  allowed  the 
privilege  of  the  writ  of  habeas  corpiis" 


52  LIFE  OF  JEFFERSON  DAVIS. 

"At  length,  when  the  writ  was  to  be  issued,  the 
condition  was  imposed  by  the  Federal  Executive 
that  there  should  be  bondsmen  influential  in  the 
' Republican'  party  of  the  North,  Mr.  Greeley 
being  specially  named.  Entirely  as  a  matter  of 
justice  and  legal  right,  not  from  motives  of  personal 
regard,  Mr.  Greeley,  Mr.  Gerrit  Smith  and  other 
eminent  Northern  citizens  went  on  my  bond. 

"  In  May,  1867,  after  being  released  from  Fortress 
Monroe,  I  went  to  Canada,  where  my  older  children 
were,  with  their  grandmother ;  my  wife,  as  soon  as 
permitted,  having  shared  my  imprisonment,  and 
brought  our  infant  daughter  with  her.  From  time 
to  time  I  obeyed  summonses  to  go  before  the  Federal 
Court  at  Richmond,  until,  finally,  the  case  was 
heard  by  Chief  Justice  Chase  and  District  Judge 
Underwood,  who  were  divided  in  opinion,  which 
sent  the  case  to  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United 
States,  and  the  proceedings  were  quashed,  leaving 
me  without  the  opportunity  to  vindicate  myself 
before  the  highest  Federal  Court. 

"  After  about  a  year's  residence  in  Canada  I  went 
to  England  with  my  family,  under  an  arrangement 
that  I  was  to  have  sixty  days'  notice  whenever  the 
United  States  Court  required  my  presence.  After 
being  abroad  in  England  and  on  the  Continent  about 
a  year  I  received  an  offer  of  an  appointment  as 
president  of  a  life  insurance  company.  Thereupon 


EX-PRESIDENT  DAVIS.  53 

I  returned  to  this  country  and  went  to  Memphis  and 
took  charge  of  the  company.  Subsequently  I  came 
to  the  Gulf  Coast  of  Mississippi,  as  a  quiet  place 
where  I  could  prepare  my  work  on  *  The  Rise  and 
Fall  of  the  Confederate  Government/  A  friend 
from  her  infancy,  Mrs.  Dorsey,  shared  her  home 
with  me,  and  subsequently  sold  to  me  her  property 
of  Beauvoir,  an  estate  of  five  or  six  hundred  acres, 
about  midway  between  Mobile  and  New  Orleans. 
Before  I  had  fully  paid  for  this  estate  Mrs.  Dorsey 
died,  leaving  me  her  sole  legatee.  From  the  spring 
of  1876  to  the  autumn  of  1879  I  devoted  myself  to 
the  production  of  the  historical  work  just  men 
tioned.  It  is  an  octavo  book  in  two  volumes  of 
about  seven  hundred  pages  each.  I  have  also  from 
time  to  time  contributed  essays  to  the  North  Ameri 
can  Revieiv  and  Belford's  Magazine,  and  have  just 
completed  the  manuscript  of  <A  Short  History  of 
the  Confederate  States  of  America/  which  is  ex 
pected  to  appear  early  in  1890. 

"  Since  settling  at  Beauvoir  I  have  persistently 
refused  to  take  any  active  part  in  politics,  not 
merely  because  of  my  disfranchisement,  but  from  a 
belief  that  such  labors  could  not  be  made  to  conduce 
to  the  public  good,  owing  to  the  sectional  hostilities 
manifested  against  me  since  the  war.  For  the  same 
reason  I  have  also  refused  to  be  a  candidate  for  pub 
lic  office,  although  it  is  well  known  that  I  could  at 


54  LIFE  OF  JEFFERSON  DAVIS. 

any  time   have   been   re-elected  a  Senator  of  the 
United  States. 

"I  have  been  twice  married,  the  second  time 
being  in  1844,  to  a  daughter  of  Wm.  B.  Howell, 
of  Natchez,  a  son  of  Governor  Howell,  of  New 
Jersey.  She  has  borne  me  six  children — four  sons 
and  two  daughters.  My  sons  are  all  dead;  my 
daughters  survive.  The  elder  is  Mrs.  Hayes,  of 
Colorado  Springs,  Col.,  and  the  mother  of  four  chil 
dren.  My  youngest  daughter  lives  with  us  at  Beau- 
voir,  Miss.  Born  in  the  last  year  of  the  war,  she 
became  familiarly  known  as  'the  daughter  of  the 
Confederacy/ " 

A  DAY  AT  BEAUVOIK. 

A  day  with  the  ex-President  is  thus  narrated  by 
Mr.  Sidney  Root,  a  well-known  Georgian.  It  is 
taken  from  the  Atlanta  Constitution  : 

"  On  the  way  to  the  Southern  Forestry  Congress, 
in  February,  1887,  I  found  I  had  a  day's  leisure, 
and  it  occurred  to  me  to  accept  an  often-repeated 
invitation  to  visit  Mr.  Davis  at  Beauvoir,  Miss.,  a 
railroad  station  about  half-way  between  Mobile  and 
New  Orleans.  It  chanced  that  I  had  been  on  the 
committee  which  escorted  him  to  Montgomery  in 
1861,  and  our  relations  became  somewhat  intimate 
during  the  war,  continuing  it  without  interruption 
until  this  time.  In  the  afternoon  the  train  left  me 


A  DAY  AT  BEAUVOIK.  55 

at  the  little  station,  which  is  also  the  local  post- 
office,  the  ex-President  being  the  chief  patron.  A 
young  Englishman  in  the  service  of  Mr.  Davis 
politely  guided  me  over  the  devious  country  road  to 
the  family  residence,  half  a  mile  distant. 

THE  BUILDINGS  AT  BEAUVOIR 

form  quite  a  group,  having  been  built  at  considera 
ble  cost  for  a  luxurious  Southern  home.  Situated 
on  a  high  bluff  of  white  sand,  about  a  hundred 
yards  from  the  Mexican  gulf,  blown  over  by  the 
salt  sea  breeze,  it  must  be  a  healthy  place.  The  soil 
seems  incapable  of  producing  anything  but  the 
superb  live  oaks,  magnolias  and  pines,  which  shade 
the  grounds  of  about  fifty  acres.  All  the  buildings 
are  of  wood — one-story  and  slate-covered — the  prin 
cipal  one  is  quite  capacious,  containing  probably  ten 
rooms,  with  lofty  ceilings  and  all  handsomely  fres 
coed.  A  very  wide  hall  runs  through  the  centre, 
and  a  broad  veranda  surrounds  the  whole.  On 
either  side,  some  fifty  yards  distant,  are  cottages  of 
similar  design,  in  one  of  which  is  Mr.  Davis'  office 
and  reference  library,  his  daughter's  studio  (Miss 
Davis  is  a  fine  artist)  and  a  sleeping-room.  The 
other  cottage  is  an  ' overflow*  guest  chamber  building; 
a  cluster  of  out-houses  huddle  in  the  rear.  All  the 
houses  are  painted  white  and  show  pleasantly  under 
the  evergreen  foliage.  Soon  after  sending  in  my  card 


56  LIFE  OF  JEFFERSON  DAVIS. 

THE  VENEKABLE  EX-PKESIDENT 

greeted  me  with  hearty  cordiality,  and  it  was  grati 
fying  to  notice  that  this  remarkable  man  still 
retained  the  dignified  bearing,  high  courtesy  and 
gentle  manner  of  the  <  old  South.'  That  this  man, 
now  about  eighty,  conspicuous  in  the  Black  Hawk, 
Seminole  and  Mexican  Wars,  Secretary  of  War  under 
Pierce,  United  States  Senator  from  Mississipi  for  two 
terms,  President  of  the  Confederate  States  during 
the  greatest  conflict  of  modern  time,  State  prisoner 
in  a  damp  casemate  of  Fortress  Monroe  for  two 
years,  could,  during  all  the  stress  which  must  have 
pressed  upon  him,  still  retain  his  erect  carriage, 
wonderful  memory  and  accurate  knowledge  of  cur 
rent  events,  is  beyond  my  comprehension.  Drawing 
some  restful  chairs  to  the  parlor  windows,  through 
which  came  the  soft  gulf  breeze,  I  had  the  happiness 
of  a  free  conversation  with,  I  think,  the  greatest 
man  I  ever  knew.  Many  tender  memories  of  per 
sonal  interest  were  recalled  and  many  historic  points 
discussed.  With  the  exception  of  John  C.  Calhoun, 
Mr.  Davis  is 

THE  MOST  INTERESTING  TALKER 

I  ever  met.  I  suppose  he  is  the  only  man  living 
who  knows  and  remembers  accurately  the  inner  his 
tory  of  the  Confederacy.  In  speaking  of  the  Black 


A  DAY  AT  BEAUVOIR  57 

Hawk,  Seminole  and  Mexican  Wars  he  related 
many  interesting  incidents,  and  mentioned  the  singu 
lar  fact  that  all  the  commanders  in  the  Mexican  War 
were  from  the  South,  as  Scott,  of  Virginia ;  Taylor, 
of  Louisiana ;  Worth,  of  North  Carolina  ;  Briggs,  of 
Georgia ;  Pillow,  of  Tennessee  ;  Quitman,  of  Missis 
sippi,  besides,  Bragg,  Davis,  Butler  and  others  who 
held  subordinate  positions.  Quitman,  however,  was 
born  in  the  North. 

"  I  asked  him  who  he.  thought  was  the  greatest 
Confederate  commander.  After  some  thought  he 
said  General  Lee,  explaining  that  Albert  Sidney 
Johnston  was  undoubtedly  the  equal  of  Lee,  but 
having  fallen  early  in  the  war  he  had  no  opportu 
nity  to  demonstrate  his  great  capabilities.  After 
these  two  he  mentioned  Stonewall  Jackson,  J.  E. 
Johnston,  Gordon,  Longstreet,  Stewart,  Lees,  the  Hills 
and  many  others.  I  asked  him  whom  he  considered 
the  greatest  Union  general.'  He  answered  unhesitat 
ingly — McClellan.  Said  he  was  an  intense  Union 
man,  and  he  respected  him  as  such,  but  that  he  fell 
under  unjust  suspicion  at  Washington — for  political 
reasons — and  confusion  ensued.  When  Secretary  of 
War,  Mr.  Davis  had  sent  McClellan  to  survey  the 
Bay  of  Samana,  in  St.  Domingo,  with  the  hope  of 
securing  a  harbor  and  coaling  station  in  the  West 
Indies  for  the  United  States  navy.  His  map  and 
report  are  now  on  file  in  Washington.  The  work 


58  LIFE  OF  JEFFERSON  DAVIS. 

was  so  well  done  that  he  detailed  him  to  visit  St. 
Petersburg  to  report  upon  the  military  establish 
ments  of  Russia.  In  twelve  months  he  submitted 
exhaustive  reports,  and  also  translated  a  technical 
work,  which  is  now  in  the  War  office  in  Washington. 

HE  SPOKE  KINDLY 

and  appreciatively  of  many  Northern  generals,  say 
ing  General  Grant  was  a  good  man  and  a  great  gen 
eral,  who  came  to  the  front  with  the  resources  of 
the  world  at  his  back  when  the  Confederacy  was 
exhausted  ;  he  also  spoke  in  the  most  kindly  way  of 
President  Lincoln,  who,  if  his  life  had  been  spared, 
would  have  been  of  great  service  to  the  South  and 
the  whole  country. 

"  Mr.  Davis  inquired  if  I  was  in  Richmond  during 
the  Seven  Days'  Battle. 

"  Yes,  I  was  a  member  of  the  Southern  Baptist 
Convention,  and  remembered  hearing  the  guns,  and 
while  we  expected  the  Federal  Army  any  day,  there 
was  no  bitterness  manifested,  but  special  prayers 
were  offered  for  the  enemy  and  for  the  protection  of 
the  homes  and  people  of  the  South. 

"  I  asked  Mr.  Davis  if  he  remembered  our  conver 
sation  about  a  plan  for  the 

GRADUAL  EMANCIPATION  OF  THE  NEGRO. 

"Yes,  he  recollected  every  detail.  He  cordially 
approved  of  it,  and  showed  the  difference  between 


MRS.  JEFFERSON  DAVIS.  59 

his  plan  and  mine  (this  was  in  the  autumn  of  1864) 
and  requested  me  to  ride  down  to  Drury's  Bluff  and 
confer  with  General  Lee.  I  did  so,  and  found  that 
General  Lee  heartily  approved  of  the  plans.  Owing 
to  the  danger  of  riding  fourteen  miles  back  to  Rich- 
mond  in  the  dark,  General  Lee  compelled  me  to 
sleep  in  his  tent — a  very  embarrassing  position  for 
me,  because  he  would  make  me  sleep  on  his  cot, 
while  he  slept  in  his  blankets  on  the  ground.  The 
matter  was  submitted  to  Congress  in  a  special  mes 
sage,  and  the  scheme  was  defeated,  chiefly  through 
Hon.  R.  M.  T.  Hunter,  of  Virginia,  on  the  ground 
that  the  withdrawal  of  so  many  able-bodied  slaves 
(40,000  at  first),  who  were  to  be  freed  upon  joining 
the  army,  would  probably  leave  the  men  in  the  field 
without  provisions.  It  will  be  remembered  that 
Captain  Harry  Jackson  offered  to  raise  a  regiment  of 
negroes  in  Georgia  to  fight  for  their  freedom.  I 
spoke  of  my  embarrassment  in  accepting  General 
Lee's  hospitality.  He  said  Lee  was  right,  as  it 
would  have  been  hazardous  to  return  to  Richmond 
after  dark,  and  mentioned  two  amusing  instances  of 
his  being  arrested  while  inspecting  the  lines  near 
Richmond. 

MRS.  JEFFERSON  DAVIS. 

"  Mrs.  Davis  is  of  Welsh  extraction — a  Howell,  a 
granddaughter  of  Governor  Howell,  of  New  Jersey, 
who  was  a  fast  friend  of  Washington.  She  was 


60  LIFE  OF  JEFFEKSON  DAVIS. 

born  in  Yicksburg  about  1826,  the  daughter  of  a 
large  planter  in  the  famous  Yazoo  bottoms.  Married 
Mr.  Davis  forty-three  years  ago;  they  settled  the 
now  celebrated  Brierfield  plantation — a  large  island 
in  the  Mississippi  River  at  Davis  Bend,  below  Vicks- 
burg.  The  place  was  so  called  because  of  the  lux 
uriant  tangle  of  briers  which  the  rich  soil  produced. 
There  they  built  a  beautiful  home  and  planted  the 
magnificent  live  oaks  which  are  now  the  pride  of 
the  neighborhood.  Mr.  Davis  had  previously  mar 
ried  a  daughter  of  ex-President  Zachary  Taylor. 
During  my  visit  we  again  reviewed  our  plans  of  '64 
for  the  gradual  emancipation  of  the  negro.  I  do 
not  know  what  the  future  historian  may  say,  for  the 
history  of  the  Confederacy  is  yet  to  be  written,  but 
I  do  know  that  Mr.  Davis,  General  Lee  and  many 
other  prominent  people  of  the  South  favored  it,  and 
that  a  bill  was  introduced  in  the  Confederate  Con 
gress  to  that  effect.  Mr.  Davis  kindly,  in  describing 

THE  BATTLE  OF  BUENA  VISTA, 

said  that  when  they  moved  out  to  meet  the  enemy 
they  were  uncertain  about  his  numbers  or  position. 
General  Taylor  had  about  1200  men,  and  they  soon 
ascertained  that  they  were  opposed  by  8000  of  the 
flower  of  the  Mexican  Army,  commanded  by  Santa 
Anna  in  person.  The  situation  was  perilous.  Colo 
nel  Davis  obtained  the  consent  of  General  Taylor  to 


HIS  BIRTHPLACE.  61 

lead  his  Mississippi  Rifles  through  a  ravine,  thus 
flanking  the  enemy's  position,  which  led  to  the  con 
fusion  and  rout  which  finally  ensued.  He  said  there 
was  no  ill-feeling  between  him  and  General  Taylor 
about  his  first  marriage.  He  married  with  the  gen 
eral's  consent,  although  the  latter  could  not  be  pres 
ent.  He  mentioned  the  kindness  of  ex-President 
Pierce,  who  visited  him  during  his  confinement  in 
the  fort,  and  who  generously  offered  him  a  home  for 
life  when  released.  He  had  a  high  regard  for  Mr. 
Pierce ;  said  he  was  a  very  able  man,  and  that  his 
was  the  only  administration  in  the  history  of  the 
country  during  which  there  was  no  change  in  the 
Cabinet. 

"This  unstudied  memorandum  about  friends  whom 
I  love  is  written  to  preserve  recollections  which 
even  in  time  may  become  dim  in  my  memory." 

EX-PKESIDENT  DAVIS'  BIRTH-PLACE. 

In  November,  1886,  ex-President  Davis  visited 
Fairview,  Ky., — under  what  circumstances  and  for 
what  object  the  following  from  the  Kentucky  Neiv 
Era  will  show : 

"Hon.  Jefferson  Davis  left  Clarksville,  Term*, 
Saturday  evening  by  special  train  for  Elkton,  where 
the  party  was  met  by  hacks  and  taken  to  Mr.  W.  H. 
Jesup's.  He  spent  the  night  with  Mr.  Jesup,  and 
attended  the  dedication,  the  next  day,  of  Bethel 


62  LIFE  OF  JEFFERSON  DAVIS. 

Baptist  Church.  This  building  is  situated  upon 
the  spot  where  Mr.  Davis  was  born,  and  the  ground 
was  purchased  by  him  last  year,  and  presented  to 
the  church  for  the  purpose.  The  structure  is  one  of 
the  handsomest  in  Southern  Kentucky,  and  was 
erected  at  a  cost  of  over  $6000.  It  is  finished  in 
elegant  style  and  seated  with  opera  reclining  chairs, 
and  is  provided  with  pastor's  study,  baptistery, 
dressing-rooms,  and  all  the  modern  improvements. 

"A  finely-polished  slab  of  violet-hued  Tennessee 
marble,  set  in  the  wall  of  the  vestibule  opposite  the 
memorial  window,  has  this  inscription  in  Roman 
capitals : 


JEFFERSON   DAVIS, 

OF   MISSISSIPPI,  WAS   BORN   JUNE   3,    1808, 

ON   THE   SITE   OF   THIS   CHURCH. 
HE  MADE  A  GIFT  OF  THIS  LOT  MARCH  10,  1886, 

TO  BETHEL  BAPTIST  CHURCH, 
AS  A  THANK-OFFERING  TO  THE  LORD. 


"  At  the  hour  on  Sunday  morning  appointed  for 
the  service  the  church  was  crowded,  and  the  distin 
guished  Mr.  Davis  entered,  leaning  upon  the  arm  of 
Mr.  Jesup,  accompanied  by  Dr.  Strickland,  of  Nash 
ville,  Tenn.,  Captain  Clark,  and  two  or  three  ladies 
from  Clarksville,  Tenn.  Dr.  Strickland,  Dr.  Baker 
and  the  pastor,  E.  N.  Dicken,  occupied  the  pulpit, 


HIS  BIRTHPLACE.  63 

and  the  former  proceeded  to  preach  the  dedicatory 
sermon.  It  was  a  discourse  eloquent,  instructive 
and  appropriate,  and  was  listened  to  with  the  closest 
attention.  At  the  conclusion  of  Dr.  Strickland's 
discourse  Mr.  Davis  arose  and  spoke  as  follows : 

"  '  Ladies  and  Gentlemen  of  the  Congregation :  My 
heart  is  always  filled  with  gratitude  to  you,  who 
extend  me  so  many  kindnesses.  I  am  thankful  I 
can  give  you  this  lot  upon  which  to  worship  the 
triune  God.  It  has  been  asked  why  I,  who  am  not 
a  Baptist,  give  this  lot  to  the  Baptist  Church.  I  am 
not  a  Baptist,  but  my  father,  who  was  a  better  man 
than  I,  was  a  Baptist. 

" ;  Wherever  I  go,  when  I  come  here  I  feel  "  that 
this  is  my  own,  my  native  land."  When  I  see  this 
beautiful  church  it  refills  my  heart  with  thanks.  It 
shows  the  love  you  bear  your  Creator ;  it  shows  your 
capacity  for  "building  to  your  God,  The  pioneers  of 
this  country,  as  I  have  learned  from  history,  were 
men  of  plain,  simple  habits,  full  of  energy  and 
imbued  with  religious  principles.  They  lived  in  a 
day  before  the  dawn  of  sectarian  disturbances  and 
sectional  strife.  In  their  rude  surroundings  and 
teachings,  it  is  no  wonder  that  they  learned  that 
God  was  love.  I  did  not  come  here  to  speak.  I 
would  not  mar  with  speech  of  mine  the  effect  of  the 
beautiful  sermon  to  which  you  have  listened.  I 
simply  tender  to  you,  through  the  trustees  of  Bethel, 


64  LIFE  OF  JEFFERSON  DAVIS. 

the  site  upon  which  this  church  stands.  May  the 
God  of  heaven  bless  this  community  forever,  and 
may  the  Saviour  of  the  world  preserve  this  church 
to  his  worship  for  all  time  to  come.' " 

One   of  the   interesting  incidents  of  his   life   in 
recent  years  was  the  appearance  of  Mr.  Davis  at 
Biloxi,   Miss.,  January  26,   1885,  at  the  reception 
there  of  the  Liberty  Bell,  from  Philadelphia,  on  its 
way  to  the  New  Orleans   Exposition.     When  the 
bell  neared  Beauvoir,  the  residence  of  Mr.  Davis, 
a  general  desire  was  expressed  to  have  him  join  the 
reception  party.    In  response  to  a  speech  of  welcome 
at  the  depot,  Mr.  Davis  spoke  with  all  his  earlier 
vigor.     "  The  aged  statesman  grew  impassioned,  and 
thrilled  his  audience  with  his  eloquence.     He  was 
cheered   vociferously,  and   seemed   deeply  moved." 
It  was  then  that  his  little  granddaughter,  five  years 
old,  kissed  the  famous  "  bell  that  rung  out  liberty  to 
all  the  land,"  and  patted  it  with  her  tiny  hand  as 
she  lisped,  "  God  bless  the  dear  old  bell."     On  the 
29th  of  April,  1886,  Mr.  Davis  spoke  at  the  laying 
of  the  corner-stone  of  a  monument  to  Confederate 
soldiers  at  Montgomery,  Ala.,  and  was  received  with 
great  enthusiasm.     Since  then  he  has  but  seldom 
left  his  home  at  Beauvoir. 

Ex-President  Davis  died  in  New  Orleans  on  the 
6th  day  of  December,  1889. 

"  The  handsome  residence  of  Mr.  J.  U.  Payne,  at 


THE  DEATH  CHAMBER.  65 

the  corner  of  First  and  Camp  Streets,  is  at  present 
an  object  of  interest  to  every  friend  of  Mr.  Jefferson 
Davis,  because  it  is  in  the  pleasant  guest-chamber 
of  this  elegant  home  that  the  beloved  old  Confeder 
ate  chieftain  passed  away  at  fifteen  minutes  before 
one  o'clock  this  morning.  This  residence,  built  by 
Mr.  Payne,  is  one  of  the  most  comfortable  and 
artistic  in  all  the  city.  It  was  of  brown-stone 
stucco,  two  stories  high,  with  broad  verandas,  and 
set  in  lovely  grounds,  where  camellia  bushes  are 
spiked  with  bloom,  and  oranges  hang  in  clusters  on 
the  trees. 

THE  DEATH  CHAMBER. 

"  The  house  has  a  wide  hall  running  through  the 
centre,  with  drawing-rooms  on  one  side,  a  library  on 
the  other,  and  on  the  rear  corner  of  the  house  is  a 
lovely  and  cheery  apartment,  into  which  the  South 
ern  sun  streams  nearly  all  day. 

"It  is  a  wonderfully  pretty  room,  with  a  rich- 
toned  Persian-hued  carpet  on  the  floor,  shades  and 
delicate  lace  curtains  at  the  four  windows — two 
fronting  to  the  east  and  two  to  the  south.  Pictures 
are  on  the  walls,  and  there  are  a  lounge,  easy 
Turkish  chairs  and  pretty  carved  tables,  and  a  huge 
carved-oak  Victoria  bedstead,  on  which  the  ex-Presi 
dent  of  the  Confederacy  lies  in  the  embrace  of  death. 


66  LIFE  OF  JEFFERSON  DAVIS. 

MRS.  DAVIS'   MINISTRATIONS. 

"  His  constant  attendant  has  been  Mrs.  Davis,  who 
has  never  left  his  bedside  since  his  illness  began. 
In  a  comfortable  home  wrapper  of  gray  and  black 
this  gentle  ministrant  was  always  at  the  invalid's 
side,  and  if  she  left  him  for  a  moment  he  asked  for 
her,  and  was  fretted  or  uneasy  until  she  returned. 
Friends  constantly  sent  beautiful  flowers,  of  which 
Mr.  Davis  was  very  fond,  but  these  were  not  allowed 
to  remain  in  the  sick  room  for  any  length  of  time. 
At  the  outset  jellies,  fruits  and  all  manner  of  inva 
lids'  delicacies  were  proffered,  until  Mrs.  Davis  was 
compelled  to  decline  them.  The  sick  man's  food 
was  only  milk,  ice,  beef  tea,  and  rarely  a  broiled 
chop. 

"  Mr.  Davis  remained  in  bed  all  the  time,  and  was 
never  left  alone,  being  guarded  lovingly  by  his  wife 
and  the  capable  quadroon  hired  nurse,  Lydia,  and 
Mrs.  Davis'  own  little  brown-eyed  handmaiden, 
Betty,  who  at  all  times  had  entree  to  the  sick-room. 
But  little  talking  was  allowed,  and  newspapers,  let 
ters  and  telegrams  were  tabooed. 

CLINGING  TO  HOPE. 

"  On  Wednesday  afternoon  a  reporter  had  a  few 
moments'  conversation  with  Mrs.  Davis.  She  was 
worn  and  weary  with  service  at  the  sick-bed,  but 
which  she  would  not  allow  to  any  other,  and  her 


THE  DEATH  CHAMBER.  67 

step  was  lagging  as  she  came  into  the  dining-room. 
She  was  very  hopeful,  however,  of  her  husband's 
ultimate  recovery. 

"  <  Mr.  Davis  has  always  been  an  exceedingly  tem 
perate  man/  said  Mrs.  Davis ;  '  he  has  never  abused 
his  physical  powers,  and  no  one  could  have  lived 
more  moderately  than  he.  Of  course,  all  this  is  in 
his  favor.  I  do  not  mean  to  say  that  there  would 
be  no  danger  if  a  door  were  left  open  or  the  fire  in 
his  room  allowed  to  go  out.  He  is  as  frail  as  a  lily 
and  requires  the  most  attentive  care.  That  he  has. 
I  believe  he  would  not  be  alive  to-day  had  his  illness 
come  upon  him  at  Beauvoir,  where  he  could  not 
possibly  have  had  the  constant  care  of  such  physi 
cians  as  Dr.  Bickham  and  Dr.  Chaille,  and  the  intel 
ligent  love,  tenderness  and  luxury  that  surround 
him  in  this  home/ 

THE  PATIENT  DESPONDENT. 

"  From  the  beginning  of  his  fatal  illness  Mr. 
Davis  had  insisted  that  his  case  was  nearly  or  quite 
hopeless,  though  the  dread  of  pain  or  fear  of  death 
never  appeared  to  take  the  slightest  hold  upon  his 
spirits,  which  were  brave,  and  even  buoyant,  from 
the  beginning  of  his  attack. 

"  In  vain  did  the  doctors  strive  to  impress  upon 
him  that  his  health  was  improving.  He  steadily  in 
sisted  that  there  was  no  improvement,  but,  with 


68  LIFE  OF  JEFFEKSON  DAVIS. 

Christian  resignation,  he  was  content  to  accept  what 
ever  Providence  had  in  store  for  him.  Only  once 
did  he  waver  in  his  belief  that  his  case  showed  no 
improvement,  and  that  was  at  an  early  hour  yester 
day  morning,  when  he  playfully  remarked  to  Mr. 
Payne,  '  I  am  afraid  that  I  shall  be  compelled  to 
agree  with  the  doctors  for  once  and  admit  that  I  am 
a  little  better/ 

"  All  day  long  the  favorable  symptoms  continued, 
and  in  the  afternoon,  as  late  as  four  o'clock,  Mrs. 
Davis  sent  such  a  cheering  message  to  Mrs.  Stamps 
and  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Farrar  that  they  decided,  for  the 
first  time  since  Mr.  Davis  has  been  taken  ill,  to 
attend  the  French  opera. 

THE  FATAL  ATTACK. 

"  At  6  o'clock  last  evening,  without  any  assignable 
cause,  Mr.  Davis  was  seized  with  a  congestive  chill, 
which  seemed  to  absolutely  crush  the  vitality  out  of 
his  already  enfeebled  body.  So  weak  was  Mr.  Davis 
that  the  violence  of  the  assault  soon  subsided  for 
lack  of  vitality  upon  which  to  prey.  From  that 
moment  to  the  moment  of  his  death  the  history  of 
his  case  was  that  of  a  gradual  sinking.  At  7 
o'clock  Mrs.  Davis  administered  some  medicine,  but 
the  ex-President  declined  to  receive  the  whole  dose. 
She  urged  upon  him  the  necessity  of  taking  the 


THE  DEATH  CHAMBER:  69 

remainder,  but,  putting  it  aside  with  the  gentlest  of 
gestures,  he  whispered,  '  Pray  excuse  me.' 

"  These  were  his  last  words.  Gradually  he  grew 
weaker  and  weaker,  but  never  for  an  instant  seemed 
to  lose  consciousness.  Lying  peacefully  upon  his 
bed,  and  without  a  trace  of  pain  in  his  look,  he 
remained  for  hours.  Silently  clasping  and  ten 
derly  caressing  his  wife's  hand,  with  undaunted 
Christian  spirit  he  awaited  the  end. 

"From  the  moment  of  the  dread  assault  of  the 
congestive  chill  those  gathered  around  his  bedside, 
who  had  been  watching  and  noting  with  painful 
interest  every  change  of  symptom  for  the  past 
month,  knew  well  that  the  dread  messenger  was 
even  at  the  door.  About  half-past  ten  o'clock  Asso 
ciate  Justice  Fenner  went  to  the  French  Opera 
House  to  call  to  Mr.  Davis'  bedside  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Farrar  and  Mrs.  Stamps.  As  soon  as  the  message 
reached  them  they  hurried  to  the  bedside  of  the 
dying  ex-President. 

BREATHED  HIS  LIFE  AWAY. 

"  By  half-past  eleven  o'clock  there  were  assembled 
in  the  death-chamber  Mrs.  Davis,  Drs.  Chaille  and 
Bickham,  Associate  Justice  and  Mrs.  Fenner,  Miss 
Nannie  Smith,  grandniece  of  the  dying  ex-President, 
and  Mr.  and  Mrs.  E.  H.  Farrar. 

"  Finding  that  Mr.  Davis  was  breathing  somewhat 


70  LIFE  OF  JEFFERSON  DAVIS. 

heavily  as  he  lay  upon  his  back,  the  doctors  assisted 
him  to  turn  upon  his  right  side.  With  his  cheek 
resting  upon  his  right  hand,  and  with  his  left  hand 
drooping  across  his  chest,  he  lay  for  some  fifteen 
minutes  breathing  softly,  but  faintly.  More  and 
more  feeble  came  his  respirations  till  they  passed 
into  silence,  and  then  the  watchers  knew  that  the 
silver  cord  had  been  loosed  and  the  golden  bowl 
broken.  The  father  of  the  Confederacy  had  passed 
away, 

"'As  calmly  as  to  a  night's  repose, 
Or  flowers  at  set  of  sun.' 

A  CRUSHING  BLOW. 

"Despite  the  fact  that  the  end  had  come  slowly 
and  peacefully,  and  after  she  had  been  face  to  face 
for  hours  with  the  dread  reality,  the  blow  fell  with 
crushing  force  upon  the  afflicted  widow.  As  long  as 
there  had  been  work  for  either  head  or  hands  she 
had  borne  up  bravely,  and  not  until  the  sweet  uses 
for  her  tender  ministrations  were  lost  did  she  seem 
to  realize  the  terrible  force  of  the  blow  that  had 
fallen  upon  her. 

"  Knowing  of  a  predisposition  to  heart  affection, 
the  doctors  were  at  once  gravely  alarmed  for  her. 
They  promptly  administered  a  composing  draught, 
and  at  a  late  hour  she  was  resting  quietly. 


THE  DEATH  CHAMBER.  71 

CAUSE  OF  DEATH. 

"  It  is  believed  that  the  foundation  of  the  ex- Pres 
ident's  last  illness  was  malaria,  complicated  with 
acute  bronchitis.  Careful  nursing  and  skilled  med 
ical  attention  had  mastered  the  latter,  but  it  is  sup 
posed  that  the  congestive  chill,  which  was  the  im 
mediate  cause  of  death,  was  attributable  to  a  return 
of  the  malaria. 

"After  death  the  face  of  the  deceased,  though 
looking  slightly  emaciated,  showed  no  trace  of  suf 
fering,  more,  nearly  resembling  that  of  a  peaceful 
sleeper  than  of  the  dead. 

THE  EVENT  ANNOUNCED. 

"  When  the  family  had  partially  recovered  from 
the  terrible  shock,  Mr.  Farrar  went  to  the  Western 
Union  Telegraph  office  and  sent  dispatches  to  Miss 
Winnie  Davis,  who  is  in  Paris,  with  Mrs.  Pulitzer ; 
to  Mr.  Davis'  son-in-law,  in  Colorado  Springs,  and 
also  notified  Governor  Lowry,  of  Mississippi,  as  he 
deemed  it  but  right  that  the  executive  of  that  State 
should  know  of  the  death  of  one  of  its  most  distin 
guished  sons." 

"  Notwithstanding  the  early  hour  at  which  Mr. 
Davis  died,  it  was  decided  by  Mr.  Farrar,  Judge 
Fenner  and  Mr,  Payne  to  inform  Mayor  Shakspeare 
that  President  Davis  had  passed  away. 


72  LIFE  OF  JEFFERSON  DAVIS. 

"A  written  communication  of  the  facts  was  di 
rected  to  him  and  delivered  at  3.05  A.M.  Mayor 
Shakspeare  visibly  showed  his  emotion  at  the  con 
tents  of  the  letter.  He  hastily  clothed  himself  and 
immediately  walked  to  the  residence.  The  chilly 
fog  hung  low  in  dense  masses,  and  faintly  defined 
by  the  electric  lights,  familiar  shapes  along  the 
streets  fell  in  distorted  shadows.  The  house  was 
shrouded  in  darkness  and  intense  silence.  From 
the  trees  surrounding  the  approaches  to  the  dwell 
ing  great  drops  of  condensed  fog  fell  with  a  softly 
deadened  sound  upon  the  earth. 

"  Mr.  Farrar  and  Mr.  Payne  received  the  Mayor 
in  the  hallway,  and  the  three  rapidly  entered  the 
back  parlor  or  dining-room.  The  Mayor's  procla 
mation  was  quickly  sketched  out  that  it  might  be 
published  in  the  morning.  The  Times-Democrat  had 
held  its  issue  back  that  the  Mayor's  notification 
might  be  given  publicity.  At  4.10  the  proclamation 
was  handed  a  Times-Democrat  reporter  and  was  pub 
lished  in  yesterday's  issue. 

"  While  the  proclamation  was  being  written  out, 
Mr.  Payne  paced  the  room  with  hands  folded  behind 
him,  or  restlessly  sought  an  arm-chair  to  look  stead 
fastly  ahead  of  him  at  the  writers. 

"  The  house  then  sank  into 

AN  AWED  SILENCE, 

save  the  occasional  closing  of  some  far-off  door,  and 


THE  DEATH  CHAMBER  73 

the  final  closing  of  the  great  hall  door  behind  the 
undertaker. 

"A  heavy  piece  of  black  crape  was  adjusted  to 
the  bell  knob  as  Mr.  Johnson  entered  the  house. 
The  token  was  sufficient  information,  and  no  line 
was  written  to  convey  that  death  had  paused  during 
the  midnight  hours  in  one  of  the  silent  rooms.  The 
drip,  drip  of  the  fog  was  the  only  audible  sound 
down  the  long  streets.  It  had  come  in  darker  than 
midnight  and  hung  in  gloomy  clouds  overhead,  as  if 
a  deluge  of  rain  was  imminent.  Some  laborers  with 
dinner  pans  and  overalls,  wrapped  in  red  handker 
chiefs,  were  the  first  to  see  the  crape  hanging  near 
the  door.  Conversation,  which  had  not  been  loud 
in  tone,  was  arrested  immediately,  and  they  reached 
out  their  hands  and  felt  the  fabric  without  speaking. 
They  passed  on,  maintaining  silence. 

"Four  patrolmen  returning  from  their  night's 
duties  saw  the  emblem  and  crossed  the  lower  corner 
of  Camp  and  First  streets.  They,  too,  were  si 
lenced.  So  dark  was  the  street  at  this  time  that 
the  lights  of  a  private  cab  were  barely  distinguish 
able  as  it  stood  at  the  adjoining  house.  At  day 
break  the  foot  passengers  passing  near  the  residence 
elevated  their  hats  and  passed  the  grounds  and 
house  with  heads  uncovered. 

"  The  sun  was  at  last  of  sufficient  force  to  dissi 
pate  the  fog,  and  while  as  yet  the  house  was  not 


74  LIFE  OF  JEFFERSON  DAVIS. 

astir  many  ladies  began  to  call  as  early  as  8.10. 
Callers  were  frequent  from  that  time  on.  Many 
of  these 

BEOUGHT  CUT  FLOWERS 

and  several  offerings  were  in  large  and  expensive 
designs. 

"  Callers  were  invariably  denied  admittance  unless 
closely  connected  or  intimate  friends  of  the  bereaved 
family.  Mrs.  Davis  denied  audience,  at  the  solicita 
tions  of  the  family,  as  often  as  practicable.  Her 
bereavement  was  prostrating  her,  and  her  friends 
feared  she  would  overtax  her  strength. 

"  By  5.30  o'clock  the  funeral  directors  had  com 
pleted  embalming  the  remains  of  the  dead  chieftain, 
and  he  was  dressed  in  his  suit  of  Confederate  gray, 
the  suit  that  he  had  on  when  he  was  removed  from 
the  steamboat  *  Leathers '  to  the  home  of  Associate 
Justice  Fenner.  The  body  was  then  laid  out  in  the 
death-chamber,  and  Mrs.  Davis  came  in  and  took 
her  seat  beside  it.  In  conversation  with  members 
of  the  household  she  expressed  the  desire  to  be 
alone  with  the  dead  during  the  day.  Her  friends 
tried  to  impress  upon  her  that  she  was  overtaxing 
herself,  but  she  insisted,  and  they  gave  way. 

"  It  was  then  announced  that  no  one  would  be 
permitted  to  intrude  upon  Mrs.  Davis,  and  with 
very  few  exceptions  no  one  was  permitted  to  enter 
the  room. 


HIS  BODY-SERVANT.  75 

"This  rule  was  first  violated  at  Mrs.  Davis' 
request  to  admit  an  old  negro  who  had  years  ago 
been 

MB.  DAVIS'  BODY-SERVANT. 

"  As  a  result  of  his  gracious  dignity,  Mr.  Davis 
never  caine  in  contact  with  a  menial  but  that  at  once 
they  grew  devotedly  attached  to  him.  More  than  once 
have  family  and  friends  quizzed  him  regarding  the 
absorbing  love  of  the  porters,  servants  and  slaves 
that  accident  threw  in  his  way.  Never  was  a  man 
more  loved  by  those  who  served  him,  and  this  was 
peculiarly  noticeable  among  the  negroes  he  owned 
before  the  war.  One  of  the  most  affecting  incidents 
connected  with  the  death,  was  the  arrival  and  grief 
of  this  old  darky,  a  former  slave  of  Mr.  Davis* 
brother,  the  late  Joe  Davis. 

"  For  a  number  of  years  Miles  Cooper,  a  decrepit 
colored  man,  has  sent  from  his  present  home  in 
Florida  little  tokens  in  the  way  of  fruits  raised  by 
his  own  hands  for  the  hospitable  Beauvoir  table. 
Through  the  local  press  Miles  heard  of  Mr.  Davis' 
extreme  illness,  and,  putting  every  personal  interest 
and  comfort  aside,  hastened  to  see  the  master  he 
loved.  Unused  to  traveling,  aged  and  uncertain  in 
his  movements,  the  unselfish  servant  again  and 
again  missed  connection  in  the  short  trip,  was  de- 
layed,  left  behind  and  put  to  every  possible  annoy 
ance  and  inconvenience.  Finally  he  arrived,  and, 


76  LIFE  OF  JEFFERSON  DAVIS. 

full  of  pleasant  anticipations,  hurried  up  to  look 
once  more  in  those  kindly  eyes  and  feel  the  cordial 
grasp  of  that  genial  hand.  Reaching  the  residence, 
all  stilled  as  it  was  and  surrounded  by  an  atmos 
phere  of  death,  the  servant  learned  of  Mr.  Davis' 
death  the  night  previous.  It  was 

MORE  THAN  HE  COULD  BEAR, 

and  breaking  down  with  an  outburst  of  deep  grief, 
Miles  sat  crushed  and  hopeless,  only  asking  the  one 
favor  to  be  admitted  to  the  presence  of  his  master. 
Every  one,  save  the  family,  had  been  denied 
entrance,  but  Mr.  Farrar,  at  Mrs.  Davis'  request, 
led  the  way,  and  soon  the  ex-slave  stood  face  to  face 
with  the  noble  dead.  It  was  pitiful  to  hear  the  sobs 
and  wails  of  the  old  darky.  He  mourned  with 
unaffected  grief  for  the  '  Mars  Jeff'  of  his  youth, 
and  prayed  earnestly  for  the  welfare  of  those  he  left 
behind. 

"  Betty,  a  little  maid  who  has  been  in  Mrs.  Davis' 
employ,  said  to  a  reporter :  *  You  are  writing  a  good 
deal  about  Mr.  Davis,  but  he  deserves  it  all.  He 
was  good  to  me  and  the  best  friend  I  ever  had. 
After  my  mother  died  and  I  went  to  live  with  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  Davis,  at  Beauvoir,  he  treated  me  like  one 
of  his  own  family.  He  would  not  allow  any  one  to 
say  anything  to  wound  the  feelings  of  a  servant/ 

"At  4.15   P.M.,  Sister  Mary  Baptiste  and  Sister 


A  TRIBUTE  OF  KESPECT  77 

Mary  Patrenelia,  of  St.  Alphonsus  Convent,  with  a 
number  of  young  female  orphans,  begged  admittance 
that  they  might  be  able  to  offer  their 

PRAYERS  FOR  THE  DECEASED. 

Mrs.  Davis  retired  from  the  room  and  the  Sisters 
and  children  knelt  by  the  bier  upon  which  rested 
the  body  of  the  dead  statesman.  It  was  clad  in 
plain  gray  uniform,  with  black  cloth-covered  buttons. 
At  his  head  and  resting  their  tips  slightly  on  each 
shoulder  were  two  palm  leaves,  such  as  marked  the 
caskets  of  the  Christian  dead  in  ages  past,  to  signify- 
that  the  spirit  had  been  victorious  over  the  body. 

"  In  the  angle  of  the  leaf  stems  was  a  sheaf  of 
wheat  harvested  at  its  fruition.  Flanking  this  was  a 
pillow  of  roses.  Above,  the  lowered  flame  of 
a  gas  jet  flamed  faintly.  The  young  faces,  unscarred 
in  the  world's  battles,  shone  out  in  strong  contrast 
to  that  of  him  whose  spirit  had  so  recently  gone 
down  into  the  valley.  From  the  not  tightly  closed 
upper  lattice  of  the  window  the  light  of  the  blue 
evening  sky 

TOUCHED  THE  FEATURES  OF  THE  DEAD 

with  an  azure  tint  and  traced  the  delicate  profile 
lines  of  the  face.  Assembled  in  the  room  during  the 
devotional  exercises  were  members  of  the  household 
of  subordinate  position.  The  appeals  and  responses 


78  LIFE  OF  JEFFEKSON  DAVIS. 

rose  and  melted  over  the  mute  frame  enwrapped  in 
the  cloth  of  his  corpse.  After  the  conclusion  of  the 
ceremonies  the  Sisters  and  orphans  immediately 
withdrew. 

THE  CASKET. 

"At  7.05  P.  M.,  the  closed  hearse  containing  the 
casket  drew  up  at  the  front  gate.  It  was  soon  taken 
within  the  house,  and  those  gentlemen  who  were 
within  the  rooms  assembled  on  the  front  gallery. 
Attracted  by  the  dark  conveyance,  with  its  white 
horse,  the  loiterers,  the  curious  and  not  a  few  who 
designed  visiting  the  house  began  to  occupy  the 
sidewalks.  Early  in  the  day  the  family  had 
expressed  the  hope  that  the  removal  of  Mr.  Davis* 
remains  to  the  City  Hall  should  be  unostentatious  and 
with  most  marked  quietude.  Seeing  the  vehicle 
was  collecting  the  crowd,  the  undertaker,  after  per 
forming  his  duty  to  the  body,  had  it  driven  away  to 
return  at  a  later  time  to  carry  the  corpse  to  the  City 
Hall.  This  caused  the  crowd  to  disperse,  and  the 
streets  were  comparatively  deserted  at  9.50  p.  M." 

AKEANGING  FOB  THE  FUNEKAL, 

"  Many  churches  held  memorial  services  in  honor 
of  Jefferson  Davis,  principally  the  Protestant 
Episcopal,  Catholic,  Methodist  and  Presbyterian. 
Bishop  Keener,  of  the  Methodist  Church,  related 
anecdotes  of  the  deceased,  especially  as  a  visitor  to 


ARRANGING  FOE  THE  FUNERAL.        79 

the  annual  seashore  camp-meeting.  Bishop  Galle 
her,  of  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church,  who  was 
in  charge  of  the  funeral,  did  not  preach  any  ser 
mon.  Bishop  Hugh  Miller  Thompson,  of  Missis 
sippi,  assisted  him,  and  Rev.  Ebenezer  Thompson, 
of  Biloxi,  Miss,  who  was  Mr.  Davis'  pastor,  also 
take  a  prominent  part.  Dr.  Markham,  Presbyterian, 
Father  Hubert,  Catholic,  and  Drs.  Bakewell  and 
Martin,  Protestant  Episcopal,  who  were  all  Con 
federate  chaplains,  assisted  Bishop  Galleher.  Dr. 
Bakewell  was  sergeant  of  a  company  and  Bishop 
Galleher  himself  carried  a  musket.  It  was  the 
Bishop's  intention  to  have  the  services  take  place  on 
the  broad  portico  of  the  City  Hall.  Lafayette 
Square  stretches  out  in  front  and  many  people  could 
then  witness  the  rites.  A  surpliced  choir  sang 
the  anthem,  "  Though  I  walk  through  the  valley  of 
the  shadow  of  death,"  by  Sir  Arthur  Sullivan.  At 
the  tomb  the  same  choir  chanted  "  Rock  of  Ages." 
The  body  was  taken  to  the  cemetery,  a  distance 
of  about  three  miles,  on  a  caisson,  and  the  vast  pro 
cession  walked  all  the  way.  The  parade  was  of 
immense  proportions.  Even  the  benevolent  soci 
eties  turned  out.  The  sombre  drapery  of  mourn 
ing  spread  over  the  city.  The  shipping  dipped  its 
flags,  the  British  steamships  especially  putting  their 
flags  at  half-mast. 

The  full  programme  of  parade  was  decided  upon 


80  LIFE  OF  JEFFEKSON  DAVIS. 

by  Gen.  John  M.  Lynn,  the  grand  marshal.  The 
selection  of  pall-bearers  was  left  to  Mrs.  Davis. 

Mr.  J.  U.  Payne,  a  prominent  cotton  factor  and 
life-long  friend  of  Mr.  Davis  was  one,  and  the 
Grand  Army  Confederate  Veterans  and  the  Gov 
ernors  of  other  States  were  represented  beside  the 
casket.  The  Army  of  Northern  Virginia  and  Army 
of  Tennessee  Veterans  marched  side  by  side  just 
behind  the  caisson  bearing  the  remains  of  their 
lamented  chief. 

The  remains  of  Mr.  Davis  lay  in  state  in  the 
council  chamber  of  the  City  Hall.  At  midnight 
Friday  they  were  carried  from  the  Payne  mansion 
to  the  City  Hall.  The  cortege  consisted  of  the 
hearse  and  two  carriages.  One  of  the  latter  was 
filled  with  flowers,  and  the  other  was  occupied  by 
six  personal  friends  of  the  deceased.  The  casket 
was  placed  upon  a  catafalque  draped  in  plain  black. 
The  coffin  was  covered  with  black  plush,  edged  with 
broad  black  braid.  The  handles  along  the  sides  con 
sisted  of  a  single  square  bar  of  silver,  and  across  each 
end  was  a  short  bar  of  gold.  The  top  of  the  casket 
was  covered  with  one  sheet  of  heavy  French  plate 
glass,  which  extended  its  entire  length,  and  rested 
on  the  thick  copper  lining. 

All  day  long  there  was  a  ceaseless  stream  of 
people  viewing  the  remains  of  Jefferson  Davis. 
Floral  offerings  have  poured  in,  and  the  coffin 


ARRANGING  FOR  THE  FUNERAL.         81 

looked  as  if  placed  at  the  base  of  a  bank  of  flowers. 
The  Army  of  Tennessee  lead  with  a  design  ten 
feet  high,  one  of  the  handsomest  floral  offerings 
ever  made  here. 

When  the  doors  opened  at  10  o'clock  fully  three 
thousand  people  were  waiting  to  enter.  The  crowd 
was  so  great  that  the  people  were  allowed  to  pass 
the  bier  in  double  instead  of  single  column,  and  over 
three  thousand  eight  hundred  people  passed  every 
hour.  The  total  was  fully  forty  thousand  in  one 
day.  The  body  will  remain  exposed  until  the  last 
minute. 

A  silver  plate  on  the  casket  bears  the  inscrip 
tion,  "Jefferson  Davis  at  Rest." 

"  Badges  of  the  Confederate  associations,  the  flag 
of  the  Washington  Artillery  carried  through  the 
war,  and  a  bunch  of  wheat  and  pair  of  crossed 
Spanish  daggers,  as  the  plant  is  termed,  fastened 
together  with  purple  ribbon,  were  the  only  other 
ornaments.  The  desks  of  the  mayor  and  clerks 
were  covered  over  and  turned  into  a  platform, 
which  was  the  receptacle  for  floral  offerings.  The 
room  was  lit  up  by  clusters  of  electric  lights,  their 
brilliancy  being  dimmed  by  the  sable  drapery.  Sol 
diers  in  uniform  stood  guard,  stacks  of  arms  and 
cannon  filled  the  corners  of  the  chamber,  and  all 
around  the  walls  were  rows  of  plants  and  shrubbery, 

forming  a  beautiful  contrast. 
6 


82  LIFE  OF  JEFFERSON  DAVIS. 

During  the  early  morning  people  poured  in  to 
obtain  a  last  look  at  the  dead — fifteen  hundred 
people  passing  each  hour.  The  visitors  were  filed 
through  the  room  in  regular  column.  All  classes 
were  represented  in  the  procession  by  the  bier.  The 
number  of  colored  people  was  marked. 

FUNERAL. 

By  universal  request  Mr.  Jefferson  Davis  was 
given  a  funeral  in  full  accord  with  his  superior  rank 
as  a  military  officer,  in  addition  to  which,  numerous 
civic  and  other  organizations  combined  to  render 
the  cortege  in  all  respects  most  imposing,  not 
only  with  reference  to  numbers,  but  in  the  pomp 
and  circumstance  of  its  elaborate  ceremonial.  Be 
sides  the  veterans  of  the  lost  cause,  who  have  once 
again  been  called  upon  to  close  up  their  decimated 
ranks,  were  many  gallant  soldiers  whose  unflinching 
valor,  displayed  on  numerous  hotly-contested  fields, 
resulted  not  unfrequently  in  both  glory  and  victory 
to  '  the  stars  and  stripes/ 

SCENE  AT  THE  CITY  HALL. 

At  11.30  o'clock  the  funeral  ceremonies  were  to 
be  commenced,  but  long  previous  to  that  time  the 
great  square  immediately  fronting  the  City  Hall  had 
become  an  unwieldy  mass  of  eager,  sympathetic 
humanity.  According  to  programme  the  square 


THE  PALL-BEAREES.  83 

proper  was  to  be  reserved  exclusively  for  the  mili 
tary.  In  the  enforcement  of  this  injunction,  however, 
the  large,  but  by  no  means  adequate,  police  force  on 
duty,  experienced  innumerable  obstacles,  and  it  was 
with  the  greatest  difficulty  that  the  swaying  multi 
tude  was  kept  beyond  the  prescribed  environments. 
The  streets,  banquettes  and  every  available  place 
from  which  either  an  unobstructed  or  partial  view 
could  be  had  of  the  portico  of  the  municipal  build 
ing,  were  crowded  almost  to  suffocation.  During  all 
this  time  the  air  was  laden  with  funeral  dirges,  the 
solemn  requiem  of  the  bells  was  heard  on  every 
hand,  and  louder  and  deeper  were  the  sounds  of 
minute  guns  that  at  intervals  thundered  forth  their 
deep-mouthed  tribute  to  the  illustrious  dead. 

THE  PALL-BEARERS. 

The  following  gentlemen  acted  as  pall-bearers : 
Honorary     Pall-bearers — Governor     Francis     T. 

Nicholls,  of  Louisiana;  Governor  Robert  Lowry,  of 

Mississippi ;  Governor  S.  B.  Buckner,  of  Kentucky ; 

Governor  John  B.  Gordon,  of  Georgia;  Governor  J. 

S.  Richardson,  of  South  Carolina;  Governor  D.  G. 

Fowle,  of  North  Carolina ;  Governor  F.  P.  Fleming, 

of  Florida;  Governor  James  P.  Eagle,  of  Arkansas. 
These   gentlemen  represent   the  Southern  States 

pall-bearers — General   George   W.  Jones,  of  Iowa; 

Hon.  Charles  E.  Fenner,  of  Louisiana;  Mr.  Sawyer 


84  LIFE  OF  JEFFERSON  DAVIS. 

Hay  ward,  of  Mississippi;  Hon.  Thomas  H.  Watts, 
of  Alabama,  a  member  of  President  Davis'  cabinet. 

APPEARANCE  OF  THE  REMAINS. 

The  body,  notwithstanding  the  very  warm  and 
exceptionally  oppressive  weather  of  the  past  week, 
was  remarkably  well-preserved.  The  countenance 
presented  an  expression  of  c  rapturous  repose/  and 
in  no  wise  had  '  decay's  defacing  fingers '  yet  blotted 
out,  much  less  tarnished  in  the  remotest  degree,  the 
noble  lines  of  a  face  strikingly  attractive  when 
lighted  by  the  fire  of  genius,  as  it  was  wont  to  be. 
Indeed  the  Confederacy's  beloved  chieftain,  as  he 
reposed  in  his  coffin  this  morning,  presented  just 
such  a  picture  as  those  who  knew  and  loved  him  in 
life  would  like  best  to  cherish  in  their  memory. 

At  12.10  the  casket  was  conveyed  from  the 
memorial  room  to  an  improvised  catafalque  in  the 
centre  of  the  front  portico,  where  massive  pillars 
were  entwined  with  a  profusion  of  crape.  Over  the 
casket  was  thrown  the  soft  folds  of  a  silken  flag  of 
the  lost  cause,  as  also  the  glittering  sabre  with 
which  the  dead  soldier  had  carved  fame  and  honor 
for  himself,  and  glory  and  victory  for  his  country, 
on  the  crimson  fields  of  Chapultepec  and  Monterey. 
Immediately  surrounding  the  coffin  were  the  clergy 
and  the  armed  sentries,  they  being  the  only  persons 
admitted  to  a  place  on  the  portico  during  the  service. 


w 


BISHOP  GALLEHER'S  ADDRESS.  85 

The  relatives  of  the  deceased  were  assigned  to  seats 
in  the  mayor's  parlor,  from  the  windows  of  which 
they  were  enabled  to  witness  the  ceremonies. 

THE  SERVICES. 

The  obsequies,  which  were  according  to  the  ritual 
of  the  Episcopal  Church,  were  conducted  by  Bishop 
Galleher,  assisted  by  five  officiating  clergymen  of 
various  denominations,  as  follows :  Father  Hubert, 
Rev.  Mr.  Thompson,  Mr.  Davis'  rector  at  Biloxi, 
Miss. ;  Rev.  Dr.  Markham,  Rev.  Mr.  Bakewell  and 
Rev.  Mr.  Martin. 

There  were  altogether  fully  twenty  surpliced  min 
isters,  besides  the  attendance  of  numerous  clergy  of 
different  denominations  from  the  various  Southern 
States.  A  surpliced  choir  of  thirty-six  voices, 
accompanied  by  the  organ,  sang  the  anthem, 
'  Through  the  Valley  of  the  Shadow  of  Death.' 

BISHOP  GALLEHER'S  ADDRESS. 

"  Bishop  Galleher  made  an  address.  He  said : 
'  When  we  utter  our  prayers  to-day  for  those  who 
are  distressed  in  mind,  when  we  lift  our  petitions  to 
the  Most  Merciful  and  ask  a  benediction  on  the  des 
olate,  we  remember  that  one  household  above  others 
is  bitterly  bereaved  and  that  hearts  closely  knitted 
to  our  own  are  deeply  distressed ;  for  the  master  of 
Beauvoir  lies  dead  under  the  drooping  flag  of  the 
saddened  city ;  the  light  of  his  dwelling  has  gone 


86  LIFE  OF  JEFFERSON  DAVIS. 

out  and  left  it  lonely  for  all  days  to  come.  Surely 
we  grieve  with  those  who  weep  the  tender  tears  of 
homely  pain  and  trouble,  and  there  is  not  a  sign  of 
the  gulf  breeze  that  swings  the  swinging  moss  on 
the  cypress  trees  sheltering  their  home  but  finds  an 
answer  in  our  own  burdened  breathing.  We  recall 
with  sweet  sympathy  the  wifely  woe  that  can  be 
measured  only  by  the  sacred  depths  of  wifely  devo 
tion,  and  our  hearts  go  traveling  across  the  heaving 
Atlantic  seas  to  meet  and  to  comfort,  if  we  might, 
the  child  who,  coming  home,  shall  for  once  not  be 
able  to  bring  all  the  sweet  splendors  of  the  sunshine 
with  her.  Let  us  bend  with  the  stricken  household 
and  pay  the  tribute  of  our  tears;  and  then,  ac 
knowledging  the  stress  and  surge  of  a  people's  sor 
row,  say  that  the  stately  tree  of  our  Southern  wood, 
planted  in  power,  nourished  in  kindly  dews,  branch 
ing  in  brave  luxuriance  and  scarred  by  many  storms, 
lies  uprooted.  The  end  of  a  long  and  lofty  life  has 
come,  and  a  moving  volume  of  human  history  has 
been  closed  and  clasped.  The  strange  and  sudden 
dignity  of  death  has  been  added  to  the  fine  and  res 
olute  dignity  of  living.  A  man  who  in  his  person 
and  history  symbolized  the  solemn  convictions  and 
tragic  fortunes  of  millions  of  men  cannot  pass  into 
the  gloom  that  gathers  around  a  grave  without  sign 
or  token  from  the  surcharged  bosoms  of  those  he 
leaves  behind,  and  when  Jefferson  Davis,  reaching 


BISHOP  GALLEHEK'S   ADDKESS.  87 

Hhe  very  seamark  of  his  utmost  sail/  goes  to  his 
God,  not  even  the  most  ignoble  can  chide  the  majes 
tic  mourning,  the  sorrowing  honors  of  a  last  'salute/ 
" '  I  am  not  here  to  stir  by  a  breath  the  embers  of 
a  settled  strife ;  to  speak  one  word  unworthy  of  him 
and  of  the  hour ;  what  is  writ  is  writ  in  the  world's 
memory  and  in  the  books  of  God.  But  I  am  here 
to  say  for  our  help  and  inspiration  that  this  man,  as 
a  Christian  and  a  churchman,  was  a  lover  of  all 
high  and  righteous  things  ;  as  a  citizen,  was  fash 
ioned  in  the  old,  faithful  type  ;  as  a  soldier,  was 
marked  and  fitted  for  more  than  fame — the  Lord 
God  having  set  on  him  the  seal  of  the  liberty  of  men. 
Gracious  and  gentle,  even  to  the  lowliest,  nay,  espe 
cially  to  them ;  tender  as  he  was  brave,  he  deserved 
to  win  all  the  love  that  followed  him.  Fearless  and 
unselfish,  he  could  not  well  escape  the  lifelong  con 
flict  to  which  he  was  committed.  Greatly  and 
strangely  misconceived,  he  bore  injustice  with  the 
calmness  befitting  his  place.  He  suffered  many  and 
grievous  wrongs,  suffered  most  for  the  sake  of  others, 
and  those  others  will  remember  him  and  his  un 
flinching  fidelity  with  deepening  gratitude  while  the 
Potomac  seeks  the  Chesapeake  or  the  Mississippi 
sweeps  by  Brierfield  on  its  way  to  the  Mexican  sea. 
When  on  the  December  midnight  the  worn  warrior 
joined  the  ranks  of  the  patient  and  prevailing  ones 
who— 


88  LIFE  OF  JEFFERSON  DAVIS. 

' "  Loved  their  land  with  love  far  brought, 

If  one  of  the  mighty  dead  gave  the  challenge : 
Art  thou  of  us? 
He  answered :  '  I  am  here.' " ' 

EEVERENTIAL  SILENCE. 

Following  Bishop  Galleher,  the  Rev.  Dr.  Mark- 
ham  read  the  lesson,  while  the  Rev.  Mr.  Martin  re 
peated  a  Psalm,  the  Rev.  Mr.  Bakewell  the  versicles, 
and  the  Rev.  Thompson  the  Creed,  and  thus  ended 
the  services  at  the  City  Hall,  which,  although  sim 
ple  and  brief,  were  wonderfully  impressive. 

During  this  period  the  immense  throng,  repre 
senting  every  conceivable  variety  of  religious  and 
social  predilection,  profession  and  nationality,  stood 
in  reverential  silence  and  with  heads  uncovered.  A 
deep  silence  pervaded  the  vast  assembly  and  the 
emotions  experienced  by  all  were  deep  and  unutter 
able. 

THE  PROCESSION. 

At  the  conclusion  of  the  religious  services  the 
casket  was  borne  by  a  detachment  of  soldiers  to  the 
handsomely  decorated  caisson  which  had  been  espe 
cially  prepared  for  its  reception,  and  on  which  it  was 
to  be  conveyed  to  the  cemetery.  From  the  caisson 
arose  a  catafalque  consisting  of  a  unique  and  beau 
tifully  designed  canopy,  measuring  from  base  to 
dome  eight  feet  in  length  and  four  in  width,  and 
supported  by  six  bronze  cannon,  craped  in  between 


THE  PROCESSION.  89 

with  muskets.  The  dome  of  the  canopy  was  orna 
mented  in  bronze,  with  furled  United  States  flags 
craped  upon  either  side.  The  sides  of  the  catafalque 
were  superbly  draped  in  black  cloth  with  bullion 
fringes  and  gimp.  The  casket  rested  on  a  slight  ele 
vation  and  the  caisson  was  drawn  by  six  black  horses, 
two  abreast,  caparisoned  in  artillery  harness  and 
plumes,  and  each  animal  led  by  a  soldier  in  uni 
form. 

With  marvelous  military  precision  the  various 
seemingly  unwieldy  battalions  wheeled  into  line, 
preceded  by  a  detachment  of  the  city  police,  and 
followed  in  turn  by  the  clergy,  pall-bearers,  and  so 
on  in  their  respective  order  until  the  mammoth  pro 
cession  was  formed.  • 

The  procession,  after  leaving  the  City  Hall,  pro 
ceeded  up  St.  Charles  Street  to  Calliope,  and  from 
Calliope  moved  into  Camp,  thence  to  Chartres,  to 
St.  Louis,  to  Royal,  and  thence  on  Canal  in  a  direct 
route  to  the  cemetery. 

It  was  an  hour  and  ten  minutes  passing  a  given 
point. 

TOLLING  BELLS. 

As  the  grand  funeral  cortege  traversed  the 
streets,  from  the  turrets  of  every  church  a  bell  was 
tolled.  The  clank  of  sabres  and  the  tramp  of  iron- 
shod  feet  echoed  along  the  interminable  line,  while 
soul-subduing  dirges  blended  with  the  solemn  boom- 


90  LIFE  OF  JEFFEKSON  DAVIS. 

ing  of  the  minute-guns.  Parts  of  the  city  not  di 
rectly  located  in  the  line  of  march  or  in  any  way 
remote  from  the  scene  of  the  pageant  were  literally 
depopulated,  their  inhabitants  having  gathered  in 
countless  numbers  on  the  banquettes  and  in  other 
available  places  from  which  an  easy  view  of  the 
marching  columns  could  be  had. 

AT  THE  CEMETERY. 

The  entry  of  the  pageant  into  the  beautiful 
cemetery  away  out  on  the  quiet  Metairie  Ridge,  far 
from  the  thunder  and  clatter  and  turmoil  of  the 
busy,  rushing,  work-a-day  city  life,  was  made  with 
all  the  pomp  and  circumstance  of  a  military  and 
civic  procession.  , 

Even  before  noon,  when  the  religious  ceremonies 
were  just  beginning,  people  gathered  within  the 
hallowed  precincts  of  the  romantic  burying  ground. 
They  came  in  street  cars,  in  trains,  in  carriages,,  in 
vehicles  of  every  known  description  and  on  foot, 
and  took  up  a  position  on  the  tombs  and  broad 
walks  and  on  the  scrupulously  well-kept  lawn. 

Metairie  is  the  prettiest  cemetery  in  the  South. 
It  ranks  in  beauty  with  the  handsomest  burial- 
grounds  of  the  world.  It  is  situated  about  two 
miles  and  a  half  from  the  business  part  of  the  city, 
and  is  rich  in  its  architecture,  its  verdure  and  its 
possessions.  Years  ago  it  was  the  famous  race- 


AT  THE  CEMETERY.  91 

course  of  the  South.  Some  years  back  it  was  trans 
formed  into  a  city  of  the  dead.  Since  then  nature 
and  man  have  constantly  aided  in  its  adornment. 
Within  it  lie  the  remains  of  thousands  of  Confeder 
ate  veterans,  and  here  are  most  of  the  tombs  of  the 
military  and  veteran  associations  of  New  Orleans. 

It  is  in  this  cemetery,  in  a  subterranean  vault, 
that  the  Southern  chieftain  has  been  temporarily 
laid  to  rest.  The  Army  of  Northern  Virginia  tomb 
is  beneath  the  marble  monument  of  the  lamented 
Confederate  leader,  Stonewall  Jackson.  It  is  situ 
ated  nearly  half  a  mile  from  the  stone  entrance, 
nearly  in  the  centre  of  the  cemetery,  and  surrounded 
by  imposing  tombs  of  wealthy  people  of  New  Orleans. 
The  mound  is  of  gradual  ascent,  prettily  laid  out  in 
parterres  and  richly  grown  with  rare  flowers.  From 
a  sectional  stone  base  a  slender  shaft,  broken  with 
laurel  wreaths,  rises  to  commanding  heights.  At  its 
apex  a  heavy  slab  of  marble  bears  the  statue  of 
Jackson.  The  figure  represents  the  famous  general 
in  an  attitude  of  repose,  his  sword  leaning  on  a 
broken  stone  wall,  and  his  left  hand  resting  grace 
fully  on  his  side.  He  wears  the  regular  Confederate 
officers'  uniform,  with  his  cloak  thrown  over  his  arm 
and  his  field-glasses  held  carelessly  in  his  left  hand. 
The  familiar  kepi  is  pulled  down,  as  the  general  was 
wont  to  wear  it,  closely  over  his  forehead.  The 
face  looks  toward  the  southeast,  and  the  features  are 


92  LIFE  OF  JEFFERSON  DAVIS. 

almost  perfect  in  their  outline.  Beneath  the  base  is 
an  underground  chamber  with  vaults  running  all 
around  it.  It  was  in  one  of  these  that  the  remains 
of  Mr.  Davis  were  placed. 

The  monument  was  decorated  with  extreme 
simplicity.  The  mound  was  covered  entirely  with 
green  moss,  and  around  the  shaft  was  wound  a  chain 
of  laurel  and  oak  leaves.  The  decorations  were  the 
work  of  Mr.  J.  H.  Menard.  When  the  procession 
left  the  City  Hall  big  furniture  wagons  drove  up, 
and  the  mortuary  chamber  was  emptied  of  its  hun 
dreds  of  floral  offerings  that  came  from  every  city 
and  State  in  the  South,  and  they  were  taken  out  to 
the  cemetery.  Here  an  artistic  hand  came  into 
play,  and  the  flowers  were  arranged  with  studied 
unostentation  and  most  admirable  effect,  the  mound 
being  almost  entirely  hidden  from  view  by  the 
wealth  of  culture  flowers. 

THE  FINAL  CEREMONIES. 

When  the  progress  of  the  procession  finally 
brought  the  militia  to  the  monument,  the  police 
and  soldiers  were  drawn  up  all  around  the  circle, 
and  as  the  funeral  car,  with  its  long  line  of  carriages 
in  the  wake,  drew  up,  the  line  of  soldiers  facing  the 
monument  were  given  right-about  orders,  in  order  to 
salute  the  bier.  It  was  then  four  o'clock.  The 
choristers  had  preceded  the  funeral,  and  took  up 


THE  FINAL  CEREMONIES.  93 

position  in  a  group  to  the  left  of  the  tomb.  Then 
the  Episcopal  clergymen  and  the  assisting  clergy  of 
other  denpminations,  formed  in  a  line  on  either  side 
of  the  walk.  The  pall-bearers  and  distinguished 
guests  did  the  same  thing.  Bishops  Galleher  and 
Hugh  Miller  Thompson  walked  slowly  up  to  the 
base  and  took  up  their  positions  beside  the  bier. 
General  Gordon  came  up  shortly  and  stood  quietly 
and  modestly,  with  bowed  head,  close  by. 

The  caisson  stopped  at  the  foot  of  the  walk,  and 
Battery  B's  detail  of  honor  bore  the  casket  up  the 
ascent  to  the  foot  of  the  monument,  with  Captain 
Beanham  at  its  head.     As  the  coffin  was  carried  up 
the  mound,  the  -military  orders  were  '  Rest  on  arms/ 
and  every  soldier  in  the  circle  executed  the  order. 
The  veteran  associations  marched  into  the  cemetery 
together.     When  they  reached  the  monument  they 
parted,  one  going  to  the  left,  the  other  to  the  right. 
When  they  met  they  charged  up  the  mound  and 
formed  an  inner  circle,  the  Army  of  Northern  Vir 
ginia  in  front  and  the  Army  of  Tennessee  in  the 
rear.     Then  the  ladies  and  gentlemen  of  the  family 
trod  slowly  up  the  mound.     Mrs.   Davis,   heavily 
draped,  leaned  on  the  arm  of  the  life-long  friend  of 
her   husband,    Mr.  J.   U.   Payne,  as   she  came   up 
beside  the  bier.     Mrs.  Hayes  came  up  on  the  arm  of 
General   Joseph    R.  Davis,  a   nephew   of  the   dead 
President.      Behind  these  came  the  faithful  negro 


94  LIFE  OF  JEFFERSON  DAVIS. 

body-servant  of  Mr.  Davis,  Robert  Brown.  Mrs, 
Stamps  was  escorted  by  Mr.  Farrar.  Then  followed 
other  members  of  the  family.  Associate-Justice 
Fenner  and  his  family  came  next,  and  immediate 
friends  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Davis  gathered  around  just 
as  Bishop  Thompson  opened  the  ceremonies  by 
reading  the  first  portion  of  the  Episcopal  burial 
service.  Then  T.  H.  Sappington,  of  Company  B, 
19th  Infantry,  stationed  at  Mt.  Vernon  barrack, 
Ala.,  sounded  the  bugle  call  of  "  Taps."  Bishop  Gal- 
leher  read  the  second  portion  of  the  ritual  consign 
ing  the  body  to  the  grave.  Here  are  his  extempo 
raneous  words  :  "  In  the  name  of  God,  Amen.  We 
here  consign  the  body  of  Jefferson  Davis,  a  servant 
of  his  State  and  country,  and  a  soldier  in  their 
armies ;  some  time  member  of  Congress  and  Senator 
from  Mississippi,  and  Secretary  of  War  of  the  United 
States ;  the  first  and  only  President  of  the  Confede 
rate  States  of  America ;  born  in  Kentucky  on  the 
3d  of  June,  1808,  died  in  Louisiana  on  the  6th  of 
December,  1889,  and  buried  here  by  the  reverent 
hands  of  his  people." 

An  anthem  by  W.  H.  Walter,  part  of  the  burial 
service,  Was  sung  by  the  choristers  to  a  cornet 
accompaniment.  Bishop  Thompson  recited  the  Lord's 
Prayer,  in  which  the  choir,  the  clergy  and  the  gene 
ral  public  joined,  and  then  the  hymn  "  Rock  of  Ages  " 
was  rendered,  and  the  religious  services  were  over. 


LN  THE  TOMB.  95 

IN     THE    TOMB. 

Bishop  Galleher  waved  his  hand  as  the  signal 
of  the  closing.  Captain  Beanham  gave  the  military 
command,  the  casket  was  raised  from  its  bier,  and 
the  soldiers  bearing  it  on  their  shoulders  marched 
around  the  circular  mound  to  the  open  doorway  at 
the  back  of  the  monument  leading  to  the  stairway 
that  reaches  the  subterranean  chamber  of  the  dead. 
The  family  took  up  its  line  in  the  order  of  its  ascent 
of  the  mound,  friends  following.  The  Ladies'  Memo 
rial  Association  fell  in,  and  Governor  Nicholls  and  the 
other  Governors  joined  in  with  the  other  pall-bearers. 
When  the  members  of  the  family  had  descended,  the 
casket  was  placed  in  the  middle  vault  of  the  first 
perpendicular  row,  immediately  on  the  right  as  you 
go  down.  The  Confederate  flag  in  which  the  coffin 
had  been  wrapped  was  removed,  the  slab  was 
screwed  tight,  and  the  dead  soldier  had  found  his 
temporary  resting  place  in  the  Army  of  Northern 
Virginia  tomb. 

As  the  family  descended  an  artillery  detachment 
from  the  State  Guard,  Captain  Beanham's  Battery, 
fired  three  rounds,  and  the  military  funeral  was 
over. 

There  were  placed  before  the  vault  three  floral 
offerings — one  a  design  of  a  chair,  from  the  Lee 
Memorial  Association ;  another,  "  Gates  Ajar/'  from 


96  LIFE  OF  JEFFEKSOJS  DAVIS. 

Mr.  P.  F.  Alba,  of  Mobile,  and  the  third,  a  cross  of 
flowers,  from  the  Girls'  High  School. 

As  Mr.  Payne  and  Mrs.  Davis,  both  weeping, 
and  the  other  relatives  and  close  friends  came  up 
from  the  chamber  and  passed  down  to  the  carriages 
the  troops  presented  arms.  Then  the  Governors, 
the  pall-bearers,  guests  from  other  States,  the  Ladies' 
Memorial  Association,  and  finally  the  public, 
crowded  down  into  the  still,  cold,  whitewashed  room 
below,  and  gazed  a  moment  on  the  narrow  chamber 
wherein  all  that  was  mortal  of  the  beloved  Southern 
chieftain  was  lying  in  peace  and  quiet,  removed  for 
ever  from  its  sphere  in  life.  A  police  guard  of  honor 
will  be  on  duty  at  the  tomb. 

Ex-President  Davis'  funeral  occurred  in  New  Or 
leans  on  Wednesday,  December  11,  1889.  The 
occasion  is  thus  editorially  described  by  the  Times- 
Democrat  of  that  city : 

Magnificent  in  its  immensity  and  sublime  in  its 
sadness  was  the  mournful  cortege  that  yesterday 
bore  to  the  tomb  all  that  was  mortal  of  Jefferson 
Davis. 

As  the  long  line  of  sorrow-stricken  faces  slowly 
moved  through  the  streets,  the  minds  of  the  old- 
time  soldiers  seemed  to  wander  back  to  the  days 
when  the  Cause  that  enwrapped  the  Southern  heart 
was  not  lost,  and  victory  held  her  hands  outstretched 
to  the  valiant  hosts  of  the  Confederacy. 


IN  THE  TOMB.  97 

It  was  a  grand,  an  imposing,  a  historic  funeral 
pageant.  No  man  now  living  will  look  upon  its  like 
again.  It  is  the  snapping  of  the  last,  great  human 
link  in  the  chain  that  binds  the  memory  of  the 
South  to  the  volcanic  past.  Jefferson  Davis  rests 
to-day  in  the  grave  to  which  Providence  in  its 
wisdom  consigned  him,  rich  in  honors,  ripe  in  the 
love  of  his  people,  enshrined  in  the  affection  of  all 
who  treasure  that  liberty  which  comes  from  God  on 
high. 

Many  millions  of  people  buried  yesterday  their 
best  beloved.  And  yet  in  the  eyes  of  the  law  he 
was  not  one  of  them.  A  man  without  a  country, 
living  under  a  government  that  knew  him  not,  soli 
tary  and  alone  in  his  unique  grandeur,  the  hero  of 
the  Lost  Cause,  Kossuth-like,  refused  to  bend  the 
pregnant  hinges  of  the  knee  that  civic  glory  and 
power  and  greatness  might  wait  upon  him.  Jeffer 
son  Davis  lived  and  moved  and  had  his  being,  not 
upon  the  stage  of  men's  affairs,  but  within  the 
recesses  of  the  human  heart — the  great  common 
heart  of  the  South.  There,  in  the  warm  embrace  of 
his  own  people,  he  passed  the  closing  days  of  his 
well-spent  life,  and  there  he  died.  No  death  could 
so  well  befit  so  great  a  man  ! 

Great  in  its  numbers,  the  mournful  procession 
that  yesterday  bore  Jefferson  Davis  to  the  grave  was 
greater  still  in  the  loftiness  of  its  character,  its  ripe 


98  LIFE  OF  JEFFERSON  DAVIS. 

wisdom  and  its  civic  fame  and  virtue.  Men  illus 
trious  in  every  walk  of  life  were  there.  Prelates 
eminent  and  eloquent;  statesmen  with  popular 
honors  heaped  full  measure  upon  them;  learned 
jurists,  rich  in  knowledge;  representatives  of  nations 
great  and  powerful  abroad ;  the  veterans  who  wore 
the  gray ;  the  men  who  wore  the  blue ;  the  mystic 
brotherhoods ;  civil,  religious  and  benevolent  organ 
izations;  our  colleges  and  schools;  the  fire  boys — 
all  moved  with  solemn  tread  to  the  beautiful  city  of 
the  dead  where  rests  this  morning  the  body  of  the 
hero  of  the  Lost  Cause. 

It  was  a  spectacle  grandly  sad,  mournfully  elo 
quent — the  burial  of  Jefferson  Davis.  In  the  cold 
embrace  of  earth  lies  now  the  South's  greatest, 
noblest,  best." 

The  solemn  and  imposing  pageant  won  uni 
versal  commendation  for  the  splendid  simplicity 
of  its  ensemble,  for  the  perfect  arrangement  of 
all  its  details,  and  for  its  grand  and  majestic  pro 
portions. 

For  the  last-mentioned  feature  of  its  excellence 
New  Orleans  claims  no  credit.  It  was  a  mighty 
assembling  of  the  Southern  people.  Half  a  score  of 
great  States  contributed  their  splendid  soldiery  and 
their  vcivilian  citizens,  who  gathered  as  if  they  were 
mere  members  of  a  vast  family  around  the  grave  of 
their  beloved  dead.  But  it  is  in  the  creation  and 


CONCLUSION.  99 

control  of  a  grand  street  pageant  that  New  Orleans 
is  pre-eminent,  and  to  the  large  experience,  the  ad 
mirable  taste,  the  unerring  art  instinct  and  the 
lavish  liberality  of  the  people  of  our  good  city,  are 
wholly  due  the  splendor,  the  beauty  and  the  perfec 
tion  of  arrangement  that  have  made  the  funeral  of 
Jefferson  Davis  one  of  the  most  notable  events  of 
the  age.  It  was  most  fortunate  for  the  entire  South 
that  Providence  ordained  that  the  last  days  of  the 
life  of  that  illustrious  man  were  spent  in  the  great 
city  of  his  devoted  people. 

A  ^QUESTION  IN  CONCLUSION. 

Shall  Jefferson  Davis  dead  be  as  heartily  hated 
and  as  mercilessly  abused  as  was  Jefferson  Davis 
alive  ?  "  He  had  his  faults."  So  had  Lincoln  and 
Grant.  So  had  the  immortal  Washington  himself. 
Much  of  the  reproach  cast  upon  Mr.  Davis  has 
grown  out  of  a  failure  to  give  due  recognition  to  the 
following  facts : 

1.  He  was  not  responsible  for  the  beginning  or 
the  continuation  of  the  war.  It  is  true  he  advocated 
armed  resistance  if  the  General  Government  under 
took  to  interfere  with  the  States  that  passed  ordi 
nances  of  secession.  But  so  did  hundreds  of  public 
men  throughout  the  South,  whose  views  were  entirely 
independent  of  what  he  had  ever  declared  or  taught. 
And  if  we  leave  the  ranks  of  public  men  and  come 


100  LIFE  OF  JEFFERSON  DAVIS. 

to  men  in  private  station,  we  find  that  they  were  of 
the  same  mind.  Indeed,  whether  the  truth  be 
looked  upon  as  creditable  or  dishonoring  to  the 
South,  let  it  be  told — the  movement  of  the  Southern 
people  in  the  years  from  1860  to  1865  as  much  de 
serves  to  be  called  a  great  popular  uprising  as  any 
movement  that  ever  occurred  among  any  people. 
Say,  if  you  choose,  they  were  deceived,  but  say  they 
were  self-deceived.  Jefferson  Davis  was  able,  was 
courageous,  was  determined,  was  fruitful  in  expe 
dients  of  statecraft  and  of  war,  and  yet  Fort  Sumter, 
and  Manassas,  and  Fredericksburg,  and  Gettysburg, 
and  Cold  Harbor  would  have  occurred  if  he  had 
never  been  born. 

2.  Was  Jefferson  Davis  a  traitor?     The  Federal 
Government  had  him  in  its  power;  he  was  arraigned 
on  this  charge  before  one  of  its  courts ;  the  Govern 
ment  had  every  opportunity  of  gathering  the  law 
and  facts  against  him,  and  yet  it  declined  even  to 
undertake  to  prove  the  accusation  made.    Ought  not 
this  fact  of  history  to  make  us  a  little  modest  in  try 
ing  to  fasten  on  his  name  the  stigma  of  treason  ? 

3.  The  armies  directed  by  Jefferson  Davis,  what 
ever  else  may  be  said  of  them,  were  not  armies  of 
invasion  or  conquest,  but  stood  only  for  defence,  and 
represented  a  people  that  simply  asked  to  be  let 
alone. 

4.  Jefferson  Davis  was  consistent  and  sincere ;  his 


CONCLUSION: 

course  as  naturally  followed  from  the  theories  long 
held  and  publicly  advocated  by  him  as  the  course  of 
Jefferson,  Henry  and  Adams  flowed  from  their  views 
concerning  the  relations  of  the  colony  to  the  mother- 
country.  Had  Jefferson  Davis  adhered  to  the  Union 
after  Mississippi  had  passed  her  secession  act,  histo 
rians,  with  the  records  before  them,  would  have 
found  no  little  difficulty  in  vindicating  his  reputa 
tion  from  crookedness  and  time-serving. 

5.  "  But  slavery  was  such  a  horrible  crime."     Say 
so,  if  you  choose  ;  but,  as  you  say  so,  remember  that 
for  the  existence  of  this  horrible  crime  on  Anglo- 
American  shores  the  South  was  no  more  responsible 
than  the  North.     Southerners  bought  the  negroes 
and  worked  them  on  their  plantations,  but  North 
erners  transported  them  from  African  jungles  and 
sold  them  to  all  that  were  willing  to  buy.     Even 
the  large-hearted  Peter  Faneuil,  who  built  the  famous 
hall  called  by  his  name,  fitted   out   ships  for  the 
slave-trade;  and  it  is  not  impossible  that  some  of 
the  money  that  first  went  to  construct  that  "  cradle  " 
in  which  Bostonians  were  to  rock  "  Liberty "  in  its 
infant  days,  came  from  the  traffic.     The  only  real 
difference  seems  to  be,  that  the   North,  under  self- 
interest  as  a  teacher,  a  little  sooner  learned  than  the 
South  that  slavery  was  a  great  moral  wrong. 

6.  "  Slavery  was  so  degrading  to   the  negroes." 
Say  that  if  you  feel  it  is  true ;  but  let  your  empha- 


i2^  :  LIFE  OF  JEFFERSON  DAVIS. 


sis  be  a  little  diminished  when  it  is  found  that, 
though  the  colored  people  do  not  occupy  a  very  high 
social,  intellectual  or  religious  plane,  yet  in  the 
Southern  States  they  have  attained  a  higher  devel 
opment  in  intelligence  and  religion  than  a  like  num 
ber  has  reached  in  any  other  quarter  of  the  globe. 

7.  "  The  Union  never  could  have  been  formed  if 
it  had  been  supposed  that  any  State  might  withdraw 
from  it  at  pleasure."  On  the  other  hand,  can  it  be 
supposed  that  any  State  —  Virginia,  for  example  — 
would  have  adopted  the  Federal  Constitution  and 
gone  into  the  Union  if  she  had  imagined  that  in  so 
doing  she  would  be  giving  to  her  sister  States  the 
right  .to  invade  her  soil,  to  divide  her  territory,  to 
devastate  her  fields,  to  overturn  her  government,  to 
bombard  her  towns  and  to  slay  her  sons  ? 

The  fact  that  the  Federal  Government,  in  dealing 
with  the  seceded  States,  found  it  impossible  to  lay 
down  and  follow  out  to  the  end  any  consistent 
policy,  gives  at  least  a  suggestion  that  the  Federal 
Constitution  did  not  very  clearly  lay  down  the  prin 
ciple  of  coercion.  First,  the  seceded  States  were 
not  out  of  the  Union,  and  could  not  go  out  ;  then, 
at  last,  they  could  go  out  and  were  out,  and  must 
be  brought  back  by  "  reconstruction  "  measures. 
First,  the  Federal  Government  had  no  right  and  no 
intention  to  interfere  with  slavery,  but  only  to 
maintain  the  Union  ;  but  at  last  its  armies  were 


CONCLUSION.  103 

"  armies  of  freedom,"  its  battles  were  "  battles  of 
freedom,"  and  its  victories  were  "  victories  of  free 
dom." 

In  short,  let  North  and  South  do  justice  to  each 
other.  Then  good  will  and  fraternity  will  come  back, 
and  no  Southerner  will  be  tempted  any  longer  to 
give  a  spiteful  application  to  that  verse  of  Dryden, 

"But  they  ne'er  pardon  who  have  done  the  wrong. f> 


REMINISCENCES  AND  ADDRESSES. 


A  TRIBUTE  FROM  A  CLASSMATE. 

BY  GENERAL,  GEORGE  W.   JONES, 
Ex-United  States  Senator. 

MR.  DAYIS  and  I  became,  college  mates  in  Tran 
sylvania  University,  in  Lexington,  Kentucky, 
in  the  month  of  October,  1821.  He  remained 
there  until  1823,  when  he  went  to  the  West  Point 
Military  Academy,  N.  Y.  I  remained  at  the  uni 
versity,  and  graduated  there  on  the  13th  of  July, 
1825.  He  was  graduated  from  the  United  States 
Military  Academy  in  the  spring  of  1828,  and  imme 
diately  assigned  to  duty  as  a  second  lieutenant  of 
infantry  at  Fort  Crawford,  Prairie  du  Chien  (then 
Michigan  Territory,  now  in  the  State  of  Wisconsin). 
At  that  time  I  was  engaged  in  the  mining  and  smelt 
ing  of  lead  ore  (galena),  merchandising  and  farming 
business  at  Sinsinawa  Mound  (now  in  Grant  County, 
Wisconsin),  then  in  the  Territory  of  Michigan.  I 
went  into  this  business  at  the  suggestion  of  Doctor 
Lewis  F.  Linn,  of  Ste.  Genevieve,  Mo.,  who  was  my 
family  physician  there  whilst  I  was  reading  law  in 
the  office  of  Messrs.  Scott  &  Allen,  of  that  place. 
Doctor  Linn  advised  me  to  leave  the  law  office  and 
confinement  as  the  only  means  of  restoring  my 

health,  which  had  been  greatly  impaired  by  constant 

107 


108  REMINISCENCES  OF  JEFFERSON  DAVIS. 

application  in  college  and  as  a  law  student  for  five 
or  six  years  or  more. 

In  the  summer  of  1828,  whilst  engaged  at  Sin- 
sinawa  Mound  in  the  avocations  referred  to,  Jeffer 
son  Davis  came  to  my  log  cabin  one  night,  accom 
panied  by  an  orderly  sergeant,  and  inquired  whether 
Mr.  Jones  resided  there,  and  upon  being  informed  (it 
being  in  the  night),  asked  whether  he  could  be  accom 
modated  with  a  night's  lodging.  I  replied  that  he 
could,  but  that  his  fare  would  be  very  poor,  as  I  had 
no  other  bed  than  a  very  small  bunk  in  one  corner 
of  my  cabin.  I  could,  however,  give  him  some 
buffalo  robes  and  blankets,  and  that,  having  no 
stable,  his  horses  could  be  hobbled  out  as  my  own 
horse  was.  He  asked  me  if  I  had  ever  been  to 
Transylvania  University.  I  replied  that  I  had.  I 
had  before  that  inquired  "  Where  he  was  going  and 
where  he  was  from."  "  To  Fort  Crawford,"  he  said, 
"  and  from  Galena."  I  said,  "  You  are  twelve  miles 
off  your  road,  and  there  is  no  road  from  here  to 
Prairie  du  Chien."  He  asked  me  if  I  recollected  a 
college  boy  at  Lexington  by  the  name  of  Jeff.  Davis. 
I  responded  that  I  could  never  forget  that  dear 
friend.  He  said,  "  I  am  Jeff."  I  sprang  from  my 
door  into  the  dark  and  drew  him  from  his  horse. 
He  had  come  out  expressly  to  visit  me.  We  talked 
nearly  all  night  of  our  college-boy  days,  and  he 
remained  with  me  several  days.  Often,  during  the 


A  TRIBUTE  FROM  A  CLASSMATE.  109 

summer  and  fall,  he  made  me  delightful  visits.     He 
informed  me  of  his  course,  etc.,  at  West  Point,  and 
I  related  mine  at  Lexington  after  he  left  there  in 
1823.     I  told  him  of  my  loss  of  health  and  of  the 
advice  of  Dr.  Linn  that  I  should  quit  the  law  office, 
high  living  and  a  sedentary  life,  and  go  to  hard 
work,  coarse  food,  exercise  in  the  open  air  and  on 
horseback,  etc.,  etc.,  as  the  only  means  of  regaining 
my  health  and  of  getting  Josephine  Gregoire  for  my 
wife,  as  I  did  on  the  7th  day  of  January  next  there 
after  at  Ste.  Gene  vie  ve,  Mo.    I  told  dear  Jeff,  of  how 
I  had  built  those  two  seventeen  feet  square  log  cabins 
in  two  days  from  the  standing  trees,  carrying  up  two 
corners  thereof  myself,   putting  on  the  clap-board 
roofs,  the  pine-plank  un planed  floor,  the  batten  door, 
and    one    eight   by   ten    twelve-light   window,   the 
counter  and  shelves,  etc.,  of  pine  plank  which  I  had 
brought  from  Ste.  Genevieve,  Mo. ;  that  being  the 
first  work  at  carpentering  that  I  had  ever  done,  but 
that  I  was  a  natural -born  mechanic,  musician  and 
dancer.     Strictly   following  out  Dr.   Linn's  advice, 
given  me  at  Ste.  Genevieve,  Mo.,  in  the  spring  of 
1827,  had  restored  me  to  health  and  vigor,  as  I  have 
never  since  been  confined  one  day,  though  I  arn  now 
upwards  of  eighty-seven  years  old. 

Jefferson  Davis  was  considered  at  Transylvania 
University,  whilst  he  remained  there  with  me,  the 
most  active,  intelligent  and  splendid-looking  young 


110  KEMINISCENCES  OF  JEFFERSON  DAVIS. 

man  in  the  College,  although  he  had,  as  college  mates, 
such  young  gentlemen  as  Gustavus  A.  Henry — the 
afterwards  Eagle  Orator  of  the  South,  Edward  A. 
Hannegan,  the  Indiana  statesman  and  orator,  and 
such  other  distinguished  men  in  after  years  as  Hon. 
John  M.  Bass,  the  distinguished  son-in-law  of  Felix 
Grundy,  of  Nashville,  Tenn.,  Hon.  Jno.  W.  Tib- 
batts,  the  Moreheads,  Jesse  D.  Bright,  David  E. 
Atchison,  Solomon  W.  Downs  and  many  others  of 
like  distinction  with  whom  Davis  and  I  served  as 
brother  Congressmen  in  both  Houses  in  after  years, 
and  up  to  the  Civil  War  of  1861-65. 

After  I  became  a  married  man  and  built  a  much 
better  dwelling-house  at  Sinsinawa  Mound,  Mr. 
Davis  very  often  visited  me  there  and  became  as  a 
member  of  my  family,  and  greatly  attached  to  and 
beloved  by  my  wife,  children,  adopted  children,  my 
brother-in-law,  A.  L.  Gregoire,  my  two  nieces, 
Misses  Mary  and  Eliza  Brady — afterwards  the  wives 
of  Jacob  Wyeth,  M.D.,  and  Col.  Geo.  W.  Campbell, 
of  Galena,  111.,  the  latter  a  Federal  officer  in 
1861-65. 

I  served  as  General  Henry  Dodge's  aide-de-camp 
during  the  Black  Hawk  War  of  1832,  whilst  Jeffer 
son  Davis  was  a  lieutenant  in  the  same  campaign, 
under  the  then  Colonel  Zachary  Taylor,  President  of 
the  United  States  from  the  4th  of  March,  1849, 
until  he  died,  in  July  of  that  year.  General  W.  S. 


A  TRIBUTE  FROM  A  CLASSMATE.  HI 

Harney,  then  a  captain,  was  in  the  same  command 
with  us.  He,  Colonel  Taylor  and  Jefferson  Davis 
often  shared  their  tents  with  me  in  bad  weather  and 
divided  their  rations  also  with  me,  we  of  the  militia 
having  no  tents  whatever,  and  were  often  without 
bread.  I  had  been  well  acquainted  with  Colonel 
Taylor  and  Captain  Harney  in  the  city  of  St.  Louis, 
Mo.,  as  early  as  1824.  Hence,  my  intimacy  and 
the  sharer  of  their  kindness  and  Davis'  in  the 
Indian  War  with  the  Sacs  and  Foxes,  Winnebagoes, 
etc. 

After  the  war  and  the  treaty  with  the  Sacs  and 
Foxes,  made  by  General  Winfield  Scott  and  General 
Henry  Dodge,  a  short  distance  above  the  present 
city  of  Davenport,  la.,  which  I  myself  attended  and 
participated  in  making,  with  Keokuk  and  other 
chiefs,  and  when  Black  Hawk  was  deposed,  the 
lead  miners  of  Illinois,  Wisconsin,  then  Michigan 
Territory,  et  dl.,  such  as  the  Langworthies,  the 
Camps,  the  Dodges,  Harrisons,  Wheelers,  Foleys, 
Smiths,  Lorimers,  Gratiots,  Jordans,  McKnights, 
Lorains,  Brophys,  Carrolls,  etc.,  etc.,  flocked  in  great 
numbers  over  the  river  to  the  near  vicinity  of  Julien 
Dubuque's  deserted  lead  mines,  at  and  near  Catico 
and  the  present  city  of  Dubuque,  and  took  posses 
sion  thereof,  as  squatters,  miners,  merchants, 
artisans,  etc.,  etc.  As  soon  as  the  same  was  made 
known  to  the  administration  of  the  then  President 


112  REMINISCENCES  OF  JEFFERSON  DAVIS. 

of  the  United  States,  General  Andrew  Jackson,  his 
Secretary  of  War,  Hon.  John  Forsyth,  issued  orders 
to  Colonel  Zachary  Taylor,  then  in  command  at  Fort 
Crawford,  to  have  those  intruders,  the  squatters, 
removed  therefrom.  Colonel  Taylor  immediately 
dispatched  Lieutenant  George  Wilson,  then  of  his 
command,  with  what  was  deemed  a  sufficient 
number  of  United  States  infantry  to  the  Dubuque 
lead  mines,  to  drive  from  them  the  squatters  at  the 
point  of  the  bayonet,  if  necessary.  The  squatters 
laughed  at  the  order,  and  soon  afterwards  Lieutenant 
Gardineer  was  sent  down  with  an  increased  number 
of  troops,  to  effect  what  Lieutenant  Wilson  had 
failed  to  do.  Lieutenant  Gardineer  was  as  unsuc 
cessful  as  Wilson  had  been,  although  he  (Gardineer) 
destroyed  many  cabins  and  miners'  huts,  their 
wagons,  teams,  etc.  Colonel  Taylor,  then,  having 
great  confidence  in  Lieutenant  Jefferson  Davis,  sent 
him  down  from  Fort  Crawford  with  an  increased 
number  of  infantry  troops  to  perform  the  duty  in  the 
very  cold  mid-winter  and  deep  snow,  in  1832  and 
1833.  Lieutenant  Davis  encamped  with  his  com 
mand  a  very  few  yards  north  of  the  present  tunnel 
and  the  now  great  Iron  Bridge  of  the  Illinois  Cen 
tral  Railroad,  on  the  east  side  of  the  river,  in  what 
is  now  known  as  East  Dubuque,  formerly  and  then 
as  Jordan's  Ferry,  in  Jo  Daviess  County,  111.  Mr. 
Davis  immediately  went  in  person  across  the  river 


A  TKIBUTE  FROM  A  CLASSMATE.  H3 

and  commenced  a  very  different  course  of  action  to 
that  which  had  been  pursued  by  his  predecessors, 
Gardineer  and  Wilson,  without  any  of  his  command, 
save,  perhaps,  an  orderly-sergeant,  and  commenced 
to  reason  with  the  intruders  upon  what  were  yet 
Indian  lands,  as  the  treaty  made  by  Generals  Scott, 
Dodge,  et  al.,  had  not  been  ratified  by  the  Senate  of 
the  United  States,  if,  indeed,  it  had  been  sent  into 
that  body  for  its  ratification  and  approval.  He  was 
not  very  long  in  convincing  such  men  as  the  Lang- 
worthy  family,  Colonel  H.  T.  Camp,  the  Hamp- 
steads,  Lorimers  and  others,  of  the  folly  of  resisting 
the  strong  Army  of  the  Government  of  the  United 
States.  He  found  considerable  trouble,  however,  in 
convincing  two  Irish  brothers  by  the  name  of  Har 
rison,  who  had  struck,  what  they  believed  to  be,  a 
splendid  prospect,  if  not  a  great  lead,  of  the  precious 
ore.  He  assured  them  that  their  claim  to  the 
mining  lot  of  some  ten  acres,  from  which  they  had 
already  raised  some  fifty  to  seventy-five  thousand 
pounds  of  ore,  should  be  respected  and  retained  for 
them  by  the  then  Agent  of  the  United  States  Lead 
Mines,  at  Galena,  111. — Major  Thos.  C.  Legate,  of  the 
United  States  Army,  who  was  his  (Davis')  personal 
friend.  His  conciliatory  course  with  those  squatters 
convinced  them  that  "  discretion  was  the  better 
part  of  valor,"  and  great  numbers  of  miners,  smelt 
ers,  store- keepers,  teamsters,  laborers,  etc.,  deter- 
8 


114  EEMINISCENCES  OF  JEFFERSON  DAVIS. 

mined  to  leave  the  country  en  masse,  and  await  the 
action  of  the  Congress  of  the  United  States,  or 
rather  the  Senate  of  the  United  States. 

The  Harrisons  and  all  others,  after  the  treaty  was 
ratified,  were  restored  to  their  possessions,  and  they 
all,  without  exception,  became  the  warm  friends  and 
admirers  of  Jefferson  Davis.  I  myself  bought  that 
prospect  of  the  Harrisons  and  paid  them  ten  thou 
sand  dollars  in  gold  for  their  claim,  which  has  ever 
since  been  known  as  the  Harrison  alias  Kil bourn 
Lead,  now  the  Karrick  and  wholly  owned  by  myself 
at  this  late  day,  though  it  has  passed  through  the 
hands  of  Captain  Geo.  Ord  Karrick,  Benjamin  Kil- 
bourn,  Alexander  Levi,  Geo.  W.  Starr,  Colonel 
Mason,  the  original  Chief  Engineer  of  the  Illinois 
Central  Railroad,  and  is  now  wholly  owned  by  my 
self,  as  the  successor  of  the  above-named  and  other 
persons. 

I  was  about  to  omit  that  there  was  but  one  woman 
amongst  the  squatters  when  Lieutenant  Davis  in 
duced  the  whole  community,  save  her,  to  leave  those 
mines  in  the  cold  winter  of  1832-33.  That  woman 
was  the  late  Mrs.  Lawrence,  then  bearing  the  name 
of  her  first  husband.  Mr.  Davis,  because  of  the  ex 
treme  severity  of  the  winter,  permitted  her  to  con 
tinue  to  occupy  her  log  cabin.  She  remained  during 
the  residue  of  her  life,  the  devoted  and  grateful 
friend  of  Jefferson  Davis.  She  was  a  strict  member 


A  TRIBUTE  FEOM  A  CLASSMATE.  H5 

of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  at  Dubuque, 
and  died  there  only  some  twelve  months  since,  be 
loved  by  all  who  knew  her.  She  never  met  me  that 
she  did  not  inquire  for  our  mutual  friend,  Lieutenant 
Davis.  I  called  to  see  her  but  a  very  few  days 
before  her  death,  when,  on  her  dying-bed,  she  sent 
her  wannest  regards  to  and  best  wishes  for  our 
absent  friend;  although,  like  the  members  of  her 
church  in  Iowa,  generally,  she  was  for  the  Union, 
and  opposed  to  secession,  as  I  myself  was.  But 
she  believed  Mr.  Davis  to  be  an  honest  man  and  a 
true  friend  to  the  whole  country,  whether  he  was 
for  secession  or  not. 

Soon  after  the  Black  Hawk  War  of  1832,  Mr. 
Davis  became  the  Adjutant  of  the  First  Regiment  of 
United  States  Cavalry,  whose  heroic  and  noble  com 
mander  was  General  Henry  Dodge,  whose  aide-de 
camp  I  was  in  that  war.  He  and  General  Dodge 
became  friends  and  admirers  of  each  other  during 
that  campaign,  if,  indeed,  they  were  not  personal 
friends  at  Dodgeville  and  Mineral  Point,  in  Wiscon 
sin,  before  that  Black  Hawk  War.  Their  association 
in  the  Indian  War,  and  as  brother  officers  of  the 
Cavalry  Corps  of  Dragoons,  in  both  Houses  of  Con 
gress  and  whilst  Mr.  Davis  was  Secretary  of  War, 
under  General  Franklin  Pierce,  President  of  the 
United  States,  from  the  4th  of  March,  1853,  until 
the  4th  of  March,  1857,  and  afterwards  in  and  out 


116  KEMINISCENCES  OF  JEFFEESON  DAVIS. 

of  Congress,  caused  the  formation  of  an  intimacy, 
friendship  and  confidence  between  those  great  and 
good  men  and  patriots,  which  I  well  know  continued 
to  exist  whilst  they  both  lived.  I  speak  under- 
standingly  on  this  point,  because  I  was  General 
Dodge's  admirer  and  friend  from  my  childhood,  both 
of  us  having  been  born  at  Vincennes,  Indiana,  and 
we  having  lived  together  at  Ste.  Genevieve,  Mo., 
where  I  was  Clerk  of  the  District  Court  of  the 
United  States,  whilst  General  Dodge  was  the  Marshal 
of  the  United  States  for  Missouri,  and  also,  because 
of  our  intimacy  and  devoted  friendship  in  Wisconsin, 
and  also  in  the  Senate  of  the  United  States.  General 
Dodge,  as  the  Senator  in  Congress  from  Wisconsin, 
felt  bound  to  obey  the  instructions  of  his  Legislature 
on  the  subject  of  abolitionism,  the  Missouri  Compro 
mise  and  other  like  questions.  Mr.  Davis  and  I  often 
voted  against  him  on  these  questions;  but  as  we 
were  all  three  Democrats,  the  intercourse  and  friend 
ship  which  had  always  existed  between  us  was 
never,  for  one  moment,  interrupted,  and  I  know  that 
General  Dodge  died  the  warm  admirer  and  friend  of 
Mr.  Davis,  and,  like  myself,  would  have  sustained 
him  for  any  political  or  military  position  in  the 
United  States  after,  as  well  as  before  the  late  unfor 
tunate  Civil  War.  And  such  do  I  firmly  believe 
was  the  opinion  and  feeling  of  General  Augustus  C. 
Dodge,  the  son  of  General  Henry  Dodge,  who,  as  a 


A  TRIBUTE  FKOM  A  CLASSMATE.  H7 

private,  served  under  his  father  in  the  Black  Hawk 
War,  where  he,  too,  formed  the  friendship  and  confi 
dence  of  Jefferson  Davis,  which  existed  whilst  we 
were  brother  United  States  Senators  and  warm  sup 
porters  of  the  administration  of  President  Pierce, 
who  sent  him  as  the  representative  of  the  United 
States  to  Spain,  at  the  court  at  Madrid,  where  he 
occupied  an  exalted  position  as  the  Minister  of  the 
United  States.  I  refer  thus  particularly  to  the  opin 
ions  and  feelings  of  these  two  life-long  personal  and 
political  friends,  because  I  know  that  they,  like  my 
self  and  all  others  who  knew  Jefferson  Davis  well, 
were  always  aware  of  the  great  injustice  and  wrong 
which  has  been  done  to  that  hero,  statesman  and 
patriot,  ever  since  the  inauguration  of  the  late  Civil 
War,  which  he  lamented  as  sincerely  as  any  man, 
living  or  dead,  and  which  he  earnestly  endeavored 
to  prevent  in  every  honest  and  patriotic  manner 
consistent  with  his  position  as  a  Southern  man.  I 
firmly  believe  that  the  future  historian  will  do  justice 
to  him  and  his  section,  when  the  "  sober  second 
thought  shall  prevail "  in  our  beloved  country. 

But  since  the  termination  of  the  late  inter-state 
war,  all  sorts  of  slander,  detraction  and  ridiculous 
reports  and  stories  have  been  fulminated,  printed, 
published  and  scattered  broad-cast  over  the  land  to 
injure  the  fair  fame  and  good  name  of  Mr.  Davis. 
Amongst  other  ridiculous  creations  it  has  been  pub- 


118  REMINISCENCES  OF  JEFFERSON  DAVIS. 

lished  and  circulated  through  the  newspapers  that 
Mr.  Davis  stole  away  in  the  night-time,  from  his  res 
idence  in  Prairie  du  Chien,  the  daughter  of  Colonel 
Zachary  Taylor,  and  that  he  took  her  across  the 
Mississippi  River  into  Iowa,  and  that  they  were  there 
married  by  a  Catholic  priest,  whom  Mr.  Davis  had 
induced  to  aid  him  in  his  nefarious  scheme.  The 
fact  is,  as  I  well  know,  that  Mr.  Davis  married  Miss 
Knox  Taylor  near  Louisville,  Ky.,  in  the  residence 
of  a  near  blood  relation  (her  aunt)  and  with  the 
entire  and  full  consent  of  every  member  of  Colonel 
Taylor's  family.  Colonel  Hercules  L.  Dousman,  of 
Prairie  du  Chien,  who  was  an  intimate  and  confi 
dential  friend  of  both  Colonel  Taylor  and  Mr.  Davis, 
and  always  one  of  my  earnest  supporters  in  all  of 
my  contests  for  delegate  to  Congress  from  Michigan, 
Wisconsin  and  Iowa,  assured  me  that  Colonel  Taylor 
never  was  unfriendly  to  Mr.  Davis,  either  before  or 
after  his  marriage  to  Miss  Taylor,  and  that  he  made 
no  objection  to  it.  After  Mr.  Davis'  appointment  as 
Adjutant  of  the  First  Regiment  of  United  States 
Cavalry  under  my  old  commander  and  life-long 
friend,  General  Dodge,  I  never  met  with  him  until 
in  the  early  winter  of  1837-38,  when  he  reached 
Washington  City  from  the  city  of  Havana,  in  Cuba, 
whither  he  had  been  for  the  restoration  of  his  health, 
which  had  become  greatly  impaired  on  his  farm  or 
plantation  in  Mississippi.  He  called  on  me  at  my 


A  TRIBUTE  FROM  A  CLASSMATE.  H9 

then  boarding-house,  at  Dowson's,  on  Capital  Hill, 
some  150  or  200  yards  northeast  of  the  present 
Senate  Chamber,  where  I  messed  with  Senator 
Benton  and  Doctor  Linn  of  Mo.  Wm.  Allen,  Senator 
from  Ohio,  Hon.  E.  A.  Hannegan  of  Indiana  and 
some  forty  other  members  of  Congress.  I  soon 
induced  my  old  college-mate  to  become  my  guest, 
I  having  two  good  rooms  besides  our  common 
parlor,  and  I  sent  immediately  my  servant  for  his 
baggage,  at  what  is  now  the  Metropolitan  Hotel 
(then  Brown's).  One  one  occasion  Doctor  Linn, 
Allen,  Davis  and  I  went  to  a  large  party  together  in 
the  west  end.  At  about  midnight  Doctor  Linn  pro 
posed  to  go  home,  as  he  was  not  feeling  well.  We 
soon  found  Davis  and  Allen  in  the  banqueting-room, 
eating  supper  and  drinking  champagne  with  I.  I. 
Crittenden,  Haws  and  others.  Crittenden  said : 
"  Linn,  you  and  Jones  go  home  and  Haws  and  I  will 
take  Allen  and  Davis  with  us,  as  we  have  a  carriage 
to  ourselves."  So  Doctor  Linn  and  I  left  them. 
Doctor  Linn  and  I  were  soon  in  bed,  and  in  a  short 
time  we  heard  in  the  distance  the  stentorian  voice  of 
Allen,  coming  up  the  Hill.  Soon  they  entered 
Doctor  Linn's  room,  where  I  was  in  bed  with  him. 
Davis  was  without  a  hat,  the  blood,  mud  and  water 
dripping  down  over  his  pale  face,  Allen  all  the  while 
repeating  the  speech  which  he  had  been  delivering 
to  Davis,  and  which  he  (Allen)  had  made  when  he 


120  KEMINISCENCES  OF  JEFFERSON  DAVIS. 

ran  for  the  House  of  Representatives  of  the  United 
States  in  Ohio,  against  Governor  McArthur,  his 
future  father-in-law.  Doctor  Linn  soon  dressed 
Davis'  severe  wounds  on  his  head.  I  went  into 
Davis'  room,  got  clean,  dry  clothes  and  then  took 
him  into  his  room  and  put  him  to  bed.  The  next 
morning  early  I  went  in  to  see  whether  Davis  would 
soon  be  ready  for  breakfast.  I  found  him  uncon 
scious,  ran  back  and  told  Doctor  Linn,  who  took  a 
bottle  of  ether  and  giving  me  one  of  camphor,  we 
commenced  the  proper  application  and  rubbing,  when 
Davis  in  a  short  time  was  restored  to  consciousness 
Doctor  Linn  said  that  Davis  would  have  been  dead 
in  a  few  minutes  had  we  not  gone  to  his  relief. 
During  Mr.  Davis'  sojourn  that  winter  with  me  he 
became  well  acquainted  especially  with  our  mess,  and 
all  became  greatly  attached  to  him  and  greatly  ad 
mired  him.  I  informed  Hon.  Robt.  J.  Walker,  then 
a  Senator  from  Mississippi,  that  I  had  a  young  friend 
and  old  college-mate  with  me,  and  advised  him  to 
call  on  and  pay  him  some  attention,  as  he  was  one  of 
his  constituents.  My  present  recollection  is  that  he 
never  became  acquainted  with  Davis  until  he  became 
a  member  of  the  House  of  Representatives.  They 
afterwards  became  warm  friends. 

In  1846  (February)  I  went  to  Washington  City  as 
Surveyor-General  of  Wisconsin  from  Dubuque,  and 
became  a  boarder  at  the  same  house  where  my 


A  TKIBUTE  FEOM  A  CLASSMATE.  121 

friends,  the  two  Dodges  (then  Delegates  from  Wis 
consin  and  Iowa),  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Davis,  Ambrose  H. 
Sevier,  Jacob  Thompson  and  other  Members  of  Con 
gress  boarded.  On  one  occasion,  when  sitting  by 
Davis  in  the  House  of  Representatives,  he  said, 
"  Augustus  Dodge  tells  me  that  you  are  hard  up  for 
money,  upon  my  inquiring  of  him  as  to  your  finan 
cial  condition."  I  replied  that  there  was  a  judgment 
against  me  at  home  for  $400,  the  only  debt  I  owed. 
He  took  up  his  pen,  drew  a  draft  in  my  favor  for 
one  thousand  dollars  on  J.  U.  Payne,  his  then  com 
mission  merchant  in  New  Orleans,  and  handed  it  to 
me.  It  surprised  me,  and  I  asked,  "  Where  did  you 
get  money  from,  as  the  last  time  I  saw  you,  in  1838, 
you  were  yourself  pressed  for  money."  He  said  he 
had  made  good  cotton  crops  on  his  plantation.  I 
drew  my  note  for  $1000  in  his  favor,  at  ten  per  cent, 
interest,  and  handed  it  to  him.  He  tore  the  note 
into  pieces,  threw  them  under  his  feet,  saying, 
"  When  you  get  more  money  than  you  know  what 
to  do  with,  you  may  pay  me,  not  before."  In  1853, 
as  Secretary  of  War,  he  appointed  my  son,  William 
A.  Bodley  Jones,  without  my  knowledge,  at  a  hint 
from  Governor  Dodge,  of  Wisconsin,  to  whom  my 
son  wrote  on  the  subject  a  confidential  letter,  I 
having  refused  to  make  such  an  application  for  him, 
as  I  had  other  constituents  who  desired  such  appoint 
ments.  During  my  absence  at  Bogota  in  1861  my 


122  REMINISCENCES  OF  JEFFERSON  DAVIS. 

son,  George  R.  G.  Jones,  left  Dubuque,  Iowa,  and 
went  to  Nashville,  Tenn.,  Hon.  I.  G.  Harris,  now  of 
the  United  States  Senate,  being  then  Governor  of  the 
State.  He  sent  for  him,  and  immediately  commis 
sioned  him  in  the  Confederate  Army,  upon  learning 
that  he  had  been  graduated  at  the  W.  M.  Institute, 
and  that  he  had  gone  South  to  volunteer  in  the  ser 
vice  of  that  section,  and  that  he  was  a  son  of  mine. 
My  eldest  son,  Charles  S.  Jones,  was  then  at  Dubuque, 
awaiting  my  return  home  from  Bogota.  Soon  after 
my  return  he,  too,  left  Dubuque  with  his  young  wife, 
under  pretence  of  visiting  her  parents  at  Frankfort, 
Ky.,  but  with  the  intention,  also,  of  tendering  his 
services  in  the  cause  of  the  Confederacy,  but  without 
letting  me  or  any  other  member  of  my  family  know 
what  his  real  intention  was.  On  reaching  Richmond 
he  immediately  applied  to  President  Davis  for  em 
ployment  as  a  clerk  in  one  of  the  departments. 
The  President  told  him  that  no  son  of  his  father  or 
mother  could  ask  in  vain  for  position  under  him,  and 
gave  him  a  note  to  Mr.  Treholm  for  employment. 
In  a  very  short  time  'Charles  received  an  appoint 
ment  as  an  adjutant-general  from  General  Bushrod 
Johnson,  under  whom  he  and  his  brother  had  both 
graduated.  These  evidences  of  the  friendship  which 
existed  between  Mr.  Davis  and  myself  and  family 
are  extremely  gratifying  to  me,  and  to  every  mem 
ber  of  my  family,  the  dead  as  well  as  the  living. 


A  TKIBUTE  FKOM  A  CLASSMATE.        123 

Some  six  to  eight  years  since  Mr.  Davis  wrote, 
me,  informing  me  that  a  man  living  at  Independence, 
Iowa,  had  his  wife's  album,  and  requested  me  to  try 
and  get  it  for  her,  as  it  contained  the  likenesses  of 
their  children,  living  and  dead,  and  of  many  old 
friends.  I  immediately  wrote  to  a  friend  at  Inde 
pendence,  and  was  informed  that  the  man,  whose 
name,  I  believe,  was  Moore,  had  removed  to  Water 
loo.  So  I  took  the  next  train,  and  on  reaching 
there,  I  learned  to  my  regret  that  Moore  had  re 
moved  from  Waterloo  out  into  Tama  County,  some 
thirty  miles  farther  out.  So  I  got  my  abolition 

cousin,  Mr.  Tom  P ,  to  introduce  me  to  some 

reliable  Democratic  attorney ;  he  took  me  to  the 
law  office  of  Messrs.  Boies,  Allen  &  Couch,  when 
the  latter  gentleman  agreed  to  accompany  me 
the  next  morning  to  Tama  County.  The  next 
morning,  after  early  breakfast,  I  called  for  my  attor 
ney,  and  we  were  soon  wending  our  way  to  Moore's 
Mill,  in  Tama  County,  some  one  hundred  and  thirty 
to  one  hundred  and  fifty  miles  west  of  Dubuque. 
Before  reaching  Moore's  my  attorney  drew  up  a  wrrit 
of  attachment  or  replevin,  and  procured  an  officer, 
a  young  man  of  some  eighteen  to  twenty  years,  to 
serve  the  paper,  if  necessary.  On  reaching  within  a 
mile  of  Moore's  Mr.  Couch  remained  behind  in  the 
woods,  as  he  would  probably  be  known  as  an  attor 
ney.  On  entering  the  house,  which  my  young  officer 


124  KEMINISCENCES  OF  JEFFERSON  DAVIS. 

knew,  we  found  a  rough-looking  man  seated  on  one 
side  of  a  table,  whilst  a  younger  man,  a  woman  and 
two  or  three  little  children  were  seated  on  the  other 
side,  where  they  had  been  eating.  I  said  to  the 
older  man,  "  I  understand  that  you  have  the  album 
of  Jefferson  Davis,  the  Southern  Secessionist,  and 
that  you  wish  to  sell  it."  He  replied,  "  It  is  my  son 
who  has  it,  not  I."  I  then  said  to  the  son,  "  I  am 
told  that  you  wish  to,  or  will,  sell  the  album."  He 
replied,  "  There  is  such  an  album  in  this  neighbor 
hood."  "  Well,  I  will  give  $40  for  it,  if  it  be  the 
same  album  that  I  once  saw  in  Washington,  and  it 
is  in  good  condition."  He  arose  from  his  seat,  went 
into  an  adjoining  room,  and  I  saw  him  through  the 
crack  of  the  door  beckon  to  his  wife  to  follow  him, 
which  she  did.  I  then  said  to  the  father,  "  It  can't 
be,  surely,  the  album  of  Mrs.  Davis,  away  out  here 
in  Iowa."  "  Yes,  it  is,"  he  replied,  "  for  I  saw  it  and 
other  things  taken  out  of  Mrs.  Davis'  trunk  at  For 
tress  Monroe,  when  Jeff,  and  his  wife  were  there  as 
prisoners."  The  son  and  woman  then  returned  to 
the  room,  when,  holding  his  two  hands  behind  his 
back,  under  his  coat,  he  said,  "You'll  pay  $40  for  it 
if  I  can  get  it."  "  Yes,  I  will,  if  it  be  the  same  album 
that  I  have  seen  in  the  Secessionist's  house  in  Wash 
ington  City,  and  it  is  in  good  condition,  with  the 
likenesses,  etc.,  in  it."  He  then  handed  it  to  me, 
when  I  deliberately  looked  through  it  and  said,  "  My 


A  TRIBUTE  FROM  A  CLASSMATE.  125 

own  likeness,  those  of  Generals  Lee,  Johnston  and 
others,  besides  the  little  children  of  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Davis,  are  not  here ;  where  are  they  ?  and  the  book 
is  very  dirty  and  much  soiled,"  etc.  He  said,  "  We 
have  given  many  of  the  likenesses  away  to  our 
friends  since  we  got  it."  I  then  handed  it  to  the 
constable  and  said,  "  Serve  your  writ."  He  said,  "  I 
attach  this  album,"  when  the  old  man  said  aloud, 
and  looking  savagely  at  me,  "  I  thought  you  were 
some  old  Secesh,"  and  the  woman,  with  vengeance 
in  her  eyes,  said,  "  You  are  no  gentleman."  I  replied, 
"  How  would  you,  madam,  like  to  have  the  album 
containing  your  little  children's  likenesses,  the  dead 
as  well  as  the  living,  stolen  out  of  your  trunk,  with 
your  jewelry  and  other  valuables  ?"  I  said,  "  Con 
stable,  let  us  go,"  and  we  walked  out  of  the  house, 
got  into  his  buggy  and  drove  out  through  the  village 
to  Mr.  Couch,  who,  as  soon  as  he  saw  me,  said, 
"  What  success,  general  ?"  "  Here  it  is,"  holding  it 
up,  "and  I  would  not  take  a  thousand  dollars  for  it." 
He  asked  if  we  had  given  Moore  a  copy  of  the  writ. 
I  replied,  "We  have  not,  but  well  return  and  do  so." 
"No,"  he  said,  "  I  will  now  go  back  and  do  that, 
but  you  had  better  remain  here  as  I  did."  On  Mr. 
Couch's  return,  he  said,  "  I  found  Moore's  house  full 
of  enraged  men,  and  swearing  vengeance  against 
you."  The  old  man  told  Mr.  Couch  that  he  saw 
"  the  d — d  old  Secessionist  with  his  hand  in  his  coat 


126  REMINISCENCES  OF  JEFFERSON  DAVIS. 

pocket  on  his  pistol."  That  pistol  was  handed  me  as 
I  left  the  door  of  his  house  in  the  morning  by  my 
good  abolition  cousin  and  friend,  he  insisting  that  I 
should  take  it.  I  believe  it  saved  me  from  a 
severe  beating,  if  not  my  life.  On  my  return  to 
Waterloo,  I  desired  to  pay  my  attorneys,  Messrs. 
Boies  &  Couch,  for  Mr.  Couch's  day's  service,  etc., 
but  they  would  receive  no  fee  from  me,  although 
I  had  never  before  seen  either  of  the  two  gentle 
men.  I  since  have  had  the  pleasure  to  help  elect 
Mr.  Couch  as  the  Judge  of  our  District  Court  and  to 
make  Mr.  Boies  the  Governor  of  our  State.  Mr. 
Couch  paid  Moore  some  time  thereafter  ten  dollars 
for  me,  which  sum  Mr.  Davis  sent  me  on  receipt  of 
their  stolen  family  album. 

In  the  summer  or  fall  of  1853  or  1854,  Colonel 
Long,  of  the  United  States  Engineer  Corps,  when  at 
Dubuque  inspecting  the  harbor  improvement,  un 
der  the  Act  of  Congress,  was  applied  to  by  my 
brother-in-law,  Mr.  Charles  Gregoire,  deceased,  for 
permission  to  change  the  plan  and  survey  of  the 
same,  he,  Mr.  Gregoire.  being  the  then  President  of 
the  Dubuque  Harbor  Improvement  Company.  Col 
onel  Long  refused  to  authorize  the  change,  but  sug 
gested  to  Mr.  Gregoire  to  get  me  to  ask  the  then 
Secretary  of  War,  Mr.  Davis,  to  permit  the  change 
asked  for  to  be  made.  On  reaching  Washington  to 
resume  my  seat  in  the  Senate,  I  made  the  request  of 


A  TEIBUTE  FROM  A  CLASSMATE.  127 

the  President,  Mr.  Gregoire,  known  to  Secretary 
Davis,  who  very  promptly  complied  with  the  request 
of  Mr.  Gregoire.  That  change  constitutes  the  pres 
ent  Ice  Steamboat  Harbor,  an  invaluable  improve 
ment. 

Some  eight  or  ten  years  ago,  at  a  meeting  in 
Dubuque  of  the  Agricultural  Society  of  the  State,  a 
resolution  was  unanimously  adopted,  requesting 
Hon.  Jefferson  Davis  to  come  to  Dubuque,  from  his 
then  residence  at  Beauvoir,  and  deliver  an  address, 
and  Mr.  Solon  M.  Langworthy  was  appointed  to  and 
came  to  me  and  requested  me  to  write  to  Mr.  Davis 
to  accept  the  invitation.  I  did  so,  and  received  a 
favorable  reply.  A  short  time  thereafter,  Mr.  Davis 
came  to  this  city  (St.  Louis),  and  after  delivering  an 
agricultural  address  at  De  Soto,  some  sixty  miles 
from  this  city,  wrote  a  letter  to  Mr.  Langworthy  and 
myself,  declining  to  go  to  Dubuque. 

About  seven  years  since,  a  scurrilous  article  was 
republished  in  the  St.  Louis  Globe-Democrat  and 
taken  from  an  Iowa  paper,  accusing  Mr.  Davis  of 
having  once  been  caught  cheating  at  a  game  of  cards 
for  money  at  Prairie  du  Chien,  and  that  he  was  then 
slapped  in  his  face  by  one  of  the  players,  who  was 
known  to  be  a  dangerous  character.  I  called  on  the 
editor  of  the  St.  Louis  paper  and  asked  for  the  author 
of  that  article.  I  was  not  given  any  satisfaction  by 
the  editor.  I  was  afterwards  informed  by  a  Bellevieu, 


128  KEMINISCENCES  OF  JEFFEKSON  DAVIS. 

Iowa,  editor,  that  the  story  was  entirely  destitute  of 
truth,  its  author,  now  dead,  having  been  a  notorious 
falsifier.  I  told  this  story  to  my  lately  deceased  and 
noble  old  friend,  General  Wm.  S.  Harney,  at  his 
home  at  Pass  Christian,  when  he  denounced  the 
same  in  bitter  terms,  saying  that  Mr.  Davis  was 
never  a  card-player,  and  that  no  man  was  ever  per 
mitted  to  slap  him  with  impunity  at  Prairie  du 
Chien,  where  he  was  associated  with  him,  or  at  any 
other  place. 


AN  ABLE  MAN  AND  A  LEADER. 

BY  JAMES   CAMPBEU,, 
Ex-Postmaster  General  of  the  United  States. 

I  KNEW  Jefferson  Davis  well.     I  was  intimately 
associated  with  him  from  1853  to  1857,  during 

the  administration  of  President  Pierce,  when  we 
were  both  in  the  Cabinet  together,  he  as  Secretary 
of  War  and  I  as  Postmaster-General. 

I  first  made  Davis'  acquaintance  in  March,  1853, 
when  we  entered  the  Cabinet  together,  and  our  as 
sociation  soon  became  personal,  as  well  as  official, 
for — although  I  was  a  Northern  man  and  he  a 
Southern,  and  he  was  an  older  man  than  I — he 
seemed  to  take  a  fancy  to  me,  while  I  respected 
and  admired  him.  Our  relations  were  always 
pleasant,  and  we  were  together  from  the  beginning 
to  the  end  of  President  Pierce's  term. 

General  Pierce's  Cabinet  was  peculiar  in  more 
ways  than  one.  It  was  the  only  Cabinet  in  the  his 
tory  of  the  country  that  remained  intact  through 
out  the  entire  Presidential  term,  and  it  was  singu 
larly  harmonious.  We  had  the  entire  confidence 
of  the  President  and  he  had  ours,  and  he  trusted 
more  to  his  Cabinet  officers  than  any  President  has 

9  129 


130  REMINISCENCES  OF  JEFFERSON  DAVIS. 

done  since.  The  Cabinet  nowadays  seems  to  be  a 
mere  corps  of  clerks  who  record  the  President's 
wishes.  Pierce's  Cabinet  officers  worked  together 
for  four  years  without  the  slightest  difficulty  or 
dissension. 

A  LITTLE  DISAGEEEMENT. 

There  was  never  but  one  occasion  during  our  four 
years  together  in  the  Cabinet  when  Mr.  Davis  and 
I  had  any  difference  of  opinion  which  brought  us 
into  conflict,  and  it  was  not  at  all  a  serious  one.  In 
fact,  the  incident  is  so  trivial  that  if  it  possesses 
any  value  now  it  is  because  anything  that  relates  to 
Jefferson  Davis  has  perhaps  a  certain  biographical 
interest  just  now. 

It  was  early  in  President  Pierce's  administration. 
In  pursuance  of  my  duty  as  Postmaster-General,  at 
a  meeting  of  the  Cabinet  I  laid  before  the  President 
certain  recommendations  as  to  appointments  to  the 
post-offices  in  various  States — the  more  important 
post-offices,  which  were  to  be  filled  by  the  President 
himself,  and  which  were  known  as  Presidential  ap 
pointments. 

DAVIS  DIDN'T  LIKE  IT. 

Among  other  recommendations  were  a  number  in 
Mississippi — Davis'  State — and  some  of  the  candi 
dates  recommended  for  appointment  were  men  who 
had  opposed  Davis  in  his  contest  with  Foote.  Davis 


AN  ABLE  MAN  AND  A  LEADER.         131 

was  a  man  of  very  intense  likes  and  dislikes,  and 
he  didn't  at  all  like  the  idea  of  his  political  foes 
coming  in  for  patronage,  and  he  said  so.  But  I  in 
sisted  upon  the  list  being  put  through. 

The  President  saw  there  was  likely  to  be  words 
between  us  over  the  Mississippi  names,  and  he  said, 
quietly : 

"  Mr.  Postmaster-General,  please  put  those  aside ; 
I  will  take  them  up  at  another  time." 

I  went  over  to  the  White  House  to  see  the  Presi 
dent  next  day,  and  he  said  to  me :  "I  have  heard 
Mr.  Davis'  objections  to  those  names,  but  you  were 
right.  Make  out  those  appointments." 

President  Pierce  would  never  permit  any  political 
discussions  at  the  Cabinet  meetings.  He  had  great 
tact,  and  we  got  along  with  wonderful  harmony  in 
the  midst  of  a  most  exciting  period. 

Mr.  Davis  came  into  the  Cabinet  under  somewhat 
peculiar  circumstances.  He  had  been  elected  to  the 
House  of  Kepresentatives  in  1845  from  Mississippi, 
but  had  not  particularly  distinguished  himself,  when 
the  Mexican  War  broke  out.  He  had  been  edu 
cated  as  a  soldier  at  West  Point,  as  everybody 
knows,  but  had  left  the  army  and  settled  on  a  Mis 
sissippi  plantation  named  Briarfield,  which  his 
brother,  Joe  Davis,  a  very  rich  man  for  those  days, 
had  given  him.  When  the  Mexican  War  broke  out 
he  at  once  resigned  his  seat  in  Congress  and  re- 


132  REMINISCENCES  OF  JEFFERSON  DAVIS. 

entered  the  army,  where  he  served  with  especial 
distinction. 

LEADING  A  FORLOEN  HOPE. 

When  the  war  was  over  he  was  returned  to  the 
Senate,  his  colleague  from  Mississippi  being  Henry 
S.  Foote,  a  very  able  man.  Foote  and  Davis  dif 
fered  on  the  compromise  measures  of  Clay  in  1851, 
Foote  sustaining  them  strongly,  while  Davis  very 
strongly  opposed  them.  The  contest  between  Davis 
and  Foote  afterward  became  very  bitter. 

There  was  to  be  an  election  for  Governor  of  Mis 
sissippi  that  year,  and  the  Democrats  had  nominated 
General  Quitman.  As  the  canvass  progressed  it 
became  evident  to  the  leaders  of  the  party  that 
Quitman  was  a  weak  candidate  and  would  be  de 
feated.  He  was  prevailed  upon  to  withdraw  three 
weeks  before  the  election,  and  Jefferson  Davis  in 
duced  to  resign  his  seat  in  the  Senate,  take  Quit- 
man's  place  and  lead  a  forlorn  hope  in  the  fight  for 
the  Governorship. 

Davis  made  a  plucky  battle,  and  although  he  was 
attacked  with  pneumonia  after  a  few  days,  and  was 
unable  to  make  speeches,  he  came  within  about  900 
votes  of  being  elected. 

After  this  defeat  Davis  remained  quietly  on  his 
plantation  until  the  Presidential  canvass  between 
Pierce  and  Scott,  when  Davis  took  the  stump  for 


AN  ABLE  MAN  AND  A  LEADER  133 

Pierce  with  enthusiasm  and  ability,  and  contributed 
largely  to  his  carrying  Mississippi.  This  service 
led  to  President  Pierce  tendering  him  the  portfolio 
of  Secretary  of  War,  and  so  he  came  into  the  Cab 
inet. 

Mr.  Davis  impressed  me  as  a  firm,  unyielding 
man,  of  strong  attachments  politically  and  person 
ally,  and  equally  strong  in  his  dislikes.  I  believe 
Davis  was  a  conscientious,  earnest  man.  I  am  sure 
that  he  always  meant  to  be  in  the  right. 

He  was  unquestionably  an  able  man  and  a 
leader,  and  there  always"  seemed  to  be  something 
of  the  soldier  about  him — the  result  of  inheritance, 
probably,  for  his  father  had  been  a  soldier.  His 
tastes  lay  in  that  [direction,  and  he  was  in  a 
congenial  place  as  Secretary  of  War.  Most  of  his 
nearest  personal  friends  in  Washington  were  army 
men. 

I  know  that  Jefferson  Davis  is  not  popularly 
known  as  a  social,  genial  man,  but  he  was,  as  I 
came  to  know  him.  But  he  was  not  much  of  a 
diner  out  or  anything  of  that  sort.  He  was  very 
quiet  and  domestic  in  his  habits  and  correct  in  his 
private  life,  and  was  exceedingly  temperate  both  in 
eating  and  drinking.  These  abstemious  habits  he 
must  have  kept  up  all  his  life,  or  he  never  could 
have  lived  to  be  eighty-one  years  of  age.  Mr. 
Davis  was  in  many  respects  one  of  the  most  lovable 


134  EEMINISCENCES  OF  JEFFERSON  DAVIS. 

men  whom  I  have  ever  seen.  I  may  say,  to  know 
him  was  to  love  him.  I  am  not  surprised  at  the 
great  affection  which  the  people  of  the  South  had 
for  him.  In  honoring  his  memory  they  honor 
themselves. 

V 

WIDE  EDUCATION. 

Jefferson  Davis  was  one  of  the  best  educated  men 
whom  I  ever  came  in  contact  with.  His  acquire 
ments  were  broad  and  often  surprised  us.  Caleb 
Gushing,  who  was  in  the  Cabinet  with  us,  was  one 
of  the  most  highly  cultured  men  of  his  time,  as  all 
the  world  knows.  He  was  famous  for  his  retentive 
memory  and  an  extent  and  range  of  knowledge 
that  was  encyclopaedic.  President  Jeff  Davis  wasn't 
far  behind  Gushing,  and  that  is  saying  a  great  deal. 

A  CASE  IN  POINT. 

As  an  instance,  I  remember  on  one  occasion  we 
were  talking  about  a  certain  medicine.  Mr.  Davis 
went  into  a  minute  analysis  and  scientific  descrip 
tion  of  its  nature  and  effects,  and  seemed  to  know 
as  much  about  it  as  though  he  were  an  educated 
physician  who  had  made  a  special  study  of  the 
subject. 

When  he  had  finished  I  asked  :  "  For  Heaven's 
sake,  Davis,  where  did  you  learn  all  that  ? " 

"  Judge,"  he  replied,  "  you  forget  that  I  have  had 


AN  ABLE  MAN  AND  A  LEADER.        135 

to  learn  something  of  medicine  so  as  to  take  care 
of  the  negroes  on  my  plantation." 

Davis  was  a  reading  man,  especially  upon  his 
torical  subjects.  He  was  particularly  interested  in 
the  political  history  of  his  country,  and  I  think 
there  have  been  few  men  who  were  better  posted 
in  that  line  than  Mr.  Davis. 

In  politics  he  was  one  of  the  most  stubborn 
slavery  men  whom  I  ever  met. 

A  DISCIPLE  OF  CALHOUN. 

He  was  a  political  disciple  of  Calhoun  in  all  his 
most  extreme  States'  rights  views.  And  although 
I  could  not  agree  with  Mr.  Davis  on  this  point,  and 
it  was  a  time  of  intense  partisanship  and  the  bit- 
terest  feelings,  which  were  soon  to  break  out  in 
secession  and  civil  war,  we  never  had  an  unpleas 
ant  dispute.  Yet  we  always  talked  with  great 
freedom.  Davis  and  other  Southern  leaders,  and 
especially  the  Senators  from  the  Southern  States 
with  whom  I  was  brought  into  constant  official  in 
tercourse,  talked  with  me  with  more  frankness  than 
to  most  Northern  men,  I  suppose  because  I  was  the 
son-in-law  of  an  Alabama  slave-holder.  In  those 
days  Northern  and  Southern  Democrats  alike  felt 
that  there  would  be  great  trouble  in  the  country  if 
Fremont  was  elected.  Everything  that  the  influ 
ence  of  the  administration  could  do  to  turn  the 


136  REMINISCENCES  OF  JEFFEESON  DAVIS. 

scale  in  favor  of  Buchanan  was  done.  I  went  into 
the  fight  as  earnestly  as  anybody,  because  I  feared 
for  the  future. 

IN  1860. 

From  the  time  President  Pierce's  Cabinet  sepa 
rated,  in  1857,  I  did  not  see  Mr.  Davis  again  for 
three  years.  It  was  late  in  the  summer  of  1860, 
during  the  exciting  political  campaign  which  ended 
in  the  election  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  The  whole 
country  was  intensely  agitated,  and  there  was  great 
latent  bitterness  between  the  North  and  the  South, 
for  the  two  sections  were  arrayed  against  each  other 
on  the  slavery  question,  and  the  South  was  ready 
to  spring  at  the  throat  of  the  North. 

Mr.  Davis  passed  through  Philadelphia  on  his 
way  South.  He  had  been  to  West  Point  as  one  of 
the  Government  Board  of  Visitors  to  the  Military 
Academy.  I  called  upon  my  old  colleague  at  the 
Continental  Hotel  and  had  a  long  talk  with  him 
upon  the  grave  political  questions  which  then  filled 
every  thinking  man  with  apprehension.  We  were 
both  Democrats  and  both  anxious  for  the  success 
of  our  party,  but  from  far  different  standpoints. 
Both  of  us  were  very  much  in  earnest,  and  we  sat 
deeply  engrossed  in  anxious  talk  until  the  stage 
was  at  the  door  to  take  him  to  his  train. 

There  were  some  things  said  during  that  conver- 


AN  ABLE  MAN  AND  A  LEADER        137 

sation  which  made  a  deep  impression  upon  me, 
and  which  I  have  never  forgotten.  Mr.  Davis  was 
perturbed — uneasy — and  I  found  that  he  was  as 
anxious  to  consult  with  me  as  I  was  to  see  him. 

THE  AMALGAMATED  TICKET. 

The  Pennsylvania  Democrats  had  tried  to  unite 
on  what  was  called  the  Amalgamated  Electoral 
ticket.  There  were  two  rival  Democratic  Presiden 
tial  candidates  in  the  field — Douglas  and  Breckin- 
ridge — and  because  of  this  serious  split  in  the  party 
there  was  great  danger  that  the  Republicans  would 
elect  Lincoln.  Many  leading  Democrats,  however, 
did  not  appreciate  the  situation,  and  felt  secure  in 
the  strength  of  the  party.  I  found  that  Mr.  Davis 
was  one  of  these.  The  fact  that  Democrats  in 
Pennsylvania  and  in  some  other  States  had  united 
on  this  amalgamated  electoral  ticket  led  many  to 
underrate  the  serious  nature  of  the  division. 

APPEALING  TO  MR  DAVIS. 

In  beginning  the  conversation  I  told  Mr.  Davis 
that  I  was  anxious  to  talk  to  him  because  of  his 
commanding  influence  in  the  South.  I  told  him  I 
feared  the  future,  and  besought  him  to  prevent,  if 
possible,  any  outbreak  in  the  South  in  the  event  of 
a  Democratic  defeat  and  a  triumph  of  the  party  of 
abolition. 


138  KEMINISCENCE3  OF  JEFFERSON   DAVIS. 

Mr.  Davis  replied  that  he  did  not  fear  Democratic 
disaster,  that  the  amalgamated  ticket  in  Pennsylva 
nia  seemed  likely  to  win. 

I  earnestly  told  him  that  that  was  a  mistake ; 
that  he  must  not  allow  himself  to  be  deceived,  and 
I  gave  him  my  reason  at  some  length.  I  told  him 
that  Lincoln  would  certainly  carry  Pennsylvania  by 
a  very  large  majority  and  that  he  would  certainly 
be  the  next  President. 

Mr.  Davis  was  greatly  surprised,  and  I  could  see 
that  he  was  deeply  affected. 

"Your  news  has  chilled  me,"  he  said.  He  ex 
plained  that  he  had  been  talking  with  Democrats 
in  New  York  who  had  given  him  an  entirely  differ 
ent  impression.  "  But,"  he  added,  "  1  have  never 
known  you  to  be  deceived  as  to  the  politics  of 
Pennsylvania,  and  I  believe  you  are  right." 

"DO  NOTHING  KASH." 

I  then  said  to  him :  "  Mr.  Davis,  take  it  for 
granted  that  Abraham  Lincoln  will  be  the  next 
President  of  the  United  States.  Now,  what  are 
you  men  in  the  South  going  to  do  ?  Let  me  urge 
you,  Mr.  Davis,  for  God's  sake,  to  stand  firm.  Do 
nothing  rash.  You  have  got  the  Senate  and  the 
House.  Lincoln  can  do  nothing ;  he  is  powerless." 

Mr.  Davis  listened  with  deep  attention  to  all  I 
said,  and  sat  buried  in  thought. 


AN  ABLE  MAN  AND  A  LEADER.        139 

"  I  have  told  you  frankly,"  I  said  to  him,  "  what 
I  am  sure  will  be  the  result  of  the  Presidential 
election.  Now  let  me  venture  to  prophesy  what 
will  occur  four  years  hence.  If  you  of  the  South 
will  permit  Lincoln  to  serve  out  his  term  I  will 
pledge  my  life  that  his  successor  will  be  a  Demo 
crat." 

Mr.  Davis  then  said,  laying  his  hand  upon  my 
arm — and  I  have  never  forgotten  his  words,  for  he 
spoke  with  great  earnestness  and  feeling — 

"I  LOVE  THIS  OLD  UNION." 

"Campbell,  I  love  this  old  Union.  My  father 
bled  for  it  and  I  have  fought  for  it.  But  unless  you 
were  in  the  South  and  knew  our  people,  you  could 
not  begin  to  estimate  the  bitterness  of  feeling  al 
ready  engendered  there,  and  which  will  increase  if 
Lincoln  is  elected." 

Just  then  Mrs.  Davis  came  into  the  room  and  in 
terrupted  us.  We  were  in  the  parlor  of  the  hotel. 
She  had  a  traveling  bag  in  her  hand  and  was  wait 
ing  to  go  with  her  husband  to  the  train.  I  rose  to 
greet  her,  and  as  the  coach  was  then  waiting  at  the 
door  Mr.  Davis  and  I  had  no  time  to  resume  our 
conversation,  so  I  bade  him  "good-bye,"  and  we 
parted. 

I  never  saw  him  again  nor  heard  from  him.  A 
few  months  afterward — the  9th  of  January,  1861 — 


140  REMINISCENCES  OF  JEFFERSON  DAVIS. 

the  State  of  Mississippi  passed  the  ordinance  of 
secession,  Mr.  Davis  left  his  seat  in  the  Senate  at 
Washington,  and  a  few  weeks  later  he  was  made 
President  of  the  Southern  Confederacy. 


CORRECTION  OF  MISREPRESENTATION. 

BY  J.    I,.    M.    CURRY,    U,.D. 

MORLEY,  in  his  life  of  Walpole,  speaks  of  an 
"  epidemic  of  unreason "  as  a  liability  of  his 
countrymen.  In  all  matters  pertaining  to 
slavery,  secession,  the  war  between  the  States,  and 
Jefferson  Davis,  their  American  cousins  seem  to 
be  subject  to  the  epidemical  sin  of  ignorance,  preju 
dice  and  passion.  Men,  who  otherwise  are  rigorous 
as  to  the  evidence  and  proof,  find,  in  everything 
relating  to  its  Confederacy  and  leaders,  no  assertion 
too  wild,  no  insinuation  too  incredible,  no  fabrication 
too  absurd.  There  is  no  present  hope  of  correcting 
misrepresentation  and  perversion,  but  as  data  for  the 
future  historian  it  may  be  well  to  put  on  record  a 
few  demonstrable  historical  facts.  They  will  help 
to  elucidate  the  acts  and  character  of  Mr.  Davis  and 
clear  up  some  prevalent  misconceptions  connected 
with  the  attempted  establishment  of  the  Confederacy. 
II.  Secession  was  not  a  new,  sudden,  unheard-of 
remedy  on  the  part  of  sovereign  States  for  real  or 
unanticipated  evils.  It  grew  out  of  a  well-recog 
nized  theory  of  government,  and  out  of  a  well-known 

contention  of  political  parties  coeval  with  the  found a- 

141 


142  EEMINISCENCES  OF  JEFFEKSON  DAVIS. 

tion  of  the  Republic.  It  was  a  necessary  inference 
from  the  doctrine  that  the  government  was  a  con 
federacy  of  equal  States,  and  that  the  Constitution 
was  a  compact  to  which  the  States  were  parties,  and 
that  each  party  had  an  equal  right  to  judge  of  infrac 
tions  and  of  the  mode  and  measure  of  redress.  The 
famous  Kentucky  and  Virginia  Resolutions  of  1798, 
and  the  report  of  Mr.  Madison  to  the  Virginia  Legis 
lature  in  1799,  the  National  Democratic  Convention 
at  Cincinnati  in  1856  adopted  as  one  of  the  main 
foundations  of  its  political  creed,  and  pledged  itself 
faithfully  to  abide  by  and  uphold.  The  ratifications 
of  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  by  the 
States  of  New  York,  and  of  Rhode  Island,  and  of 
Virginia,  reserved  in  express,  language  the  right  to 
withdraw  from  the  Union. 

The  delegates  of  New  York  declared  "that  the 
powers  of  government  may  be  reassumed  by  the  people 
whenever  it  shall  become  necessary  to  their  happiness  ; 
\that  every  power,  jurisdiction  and  right  which  is 
not  by  the  said  Constitution  clearly  delegated  to  the 
Congress  of  the  United,  or  the  departments  of  the 
Government  thereof,  remains  to  the  peoples  of  the 
several  States,  or  to  their  respective  State  govern 
ments,  to  whom  they  may  have  granted  the  same, 
etc."  Rhode  Island  declared  "that  the  powers  of 
government  may  be  reassumed  by  the  people  when 
soever  it  shall  become  necessary  to  their  happiness." 


CORRECTION  OF  MISREPRESENTATION.  143 

Virginia,  in  giving  her  assent,  declared  "that  the 
powers  granted  under  the  Constitution,  being  derived 
from  the  people  of  the  United  States,  may  be  re 
sumed  by  them  whenever  the  same  shall  be  per 
verted  to  their  injury  or  oppression,  and  that  every 
power  not  granted  thereby  remains  with  them,  and 
at  their  will."  Mr.  Josiah  Quincy,  of  Massachusetts, 
regarded  the  purchase  of  Louisiana  as  invalid  until 
each  of  the  original  thirteen  States  had  signified  its 
assent,  and  on  the  bill  for  the  admission  of  Louisiana 
as  a  State  into  the  Union  in  1811,  he  said,  "If  this 
bill  passes,  it  is  my  deliberate  opinion  that  it  is  vir 
tually  a  dissolution  of  the  Union ;  that  it  will  free 
the  States  from  their  moral  obligation,  and  as  it  will 
be  the  right  of  all,  so  it  will  be  the  duty  of  some, 
definitely  to  prepare  for  a  separation,  amicably  if 
they  can,  violently  if  they  must."  In  1844  Charles 
Francis  Adams  introduced  into  the  Massachusetts 
Legislature  a  resolution  in  reference  to  the  annexa 
tion  of  Texas  almost  identical  with  Mr.  Quincy's 
utterances  in  1811,  and  declared  that  Massachusetts 
was  "  determined  to  submit  to  undelegated  powers 
in  no  body  of  men  on  earth."  In  1831  Maine 
declared  in  reference  to  the  Northeastern  Boundary 
Treaty,  that  it  impaired  her  sovereign  rights  and 
powers,  had  no  constitutional  force  or  obligation, 
and  that  Maine  was  not  bound  by  any  decision  which 
should  be  made  under  the  treaty.  The  year  pre- 


144  KEMINISCENCES  OF  JEFFERSON  DAVIS. 

ceding  Massachusetts  declared  the  treaty  null  and 
void,  and  in  no  way  obligatory  upon  the  government 
or  people.  In  1857  a  State  Disunion  Convention 
was  held  at  Worcester,  in  which  it  was  resolved  to 
seek  "the  expulsion  of  the  slave  States  from  the 
confederation,  in  which  they  have  ever  been  an 
element  of  discord,  danger  and  disgrace,"  and  to 
organize  a  party  whose  candidates  should  be  publicly 
pledged  "to  ignore  the  Federal  Government,  to 
refuse  an  oath  to  its  Constitution,  and  to  make  the 
States  free  and  independent  communities." 

The  Southern  States,  as  previously  announced, 
regarded  the  election  of  Mr.  Lincoln  by  a  sectional 
vote  as  involving  necessarily  the  perversion  of  the 
government  from  its  originally  limited  character  and 
the  overthrow  of  all  those  guarantees  which  furnished 
the  slightest  hope  of  equality  and  protection  in  the 
"irrepressible  conflict"  thus  precipitated  upon  the 
minority  section.  The  writer  is  not  vindicating  the 
secession  of  the  States,  nor  deprecating  the  failure  of 
the  Confederacy;  but  as  the  right  of  secession  is 
much  misunderstood,  a  quotation  is  made  from  an 
article  written  by  myself  for  the  Philadelphia  Times 
and  published  on  24th  January,  1880: 

"  As  this  is  the  experimentum  crucis  of  the  whole 
controversy,  much  misunderstood  by  foreigners,  I 
will  state  it  more  fully.  The  secession  of  South 
Carolina  may  have  been  rash  and  foolish.  That  is 


COKEECTION  OF  MISKEPRESENTATION.  145 

not  the  point  at  issue.  The  naked  question  is,  Did 
South  Carolina  have  the  right  to  secede  ?  If  so,  the 
allegiance  of  her  citizens  followed  necessarily.  The 
Hon.  Stanley  Matthews,  a  scholarly  lawyer  and 
statesman,  in  his  recent  address  at  the  unveiling  of 
the  statue  of  General  Thomas,  said  <  The  rebellion  of 
1861  was  founded  on  a  fundamental  misconception 
of  the  character  of  the  political  institutions  of  the 
country  and  of  the  relation  of  the  governments  of 
the  States  to  that  of  the  United  States,  and  a  failure 
to  realize  the  truth  that  behind  and  below  these  in 
strumentalities  of  political  action  there  was  a  constit 
uency  that  was  their  originating  and  supporting 
cause,  the  unity  of  which  made  a  nation  of  all  the 
people.'  In  this  extract  are  a  petltio  principii  and  a 
statement  of  fact  which,  as  a  fact,  exists  only  in  the 
minds  of  consolidationists.  It  is  assumed  that  the 
war  between  the  States  was  a  rebellion,  the  very 
matter  in  issue.  It  is  asserted  that  a  people,  or 
'a  constituency,'  en  masse,  in  the  aggregate,  lay 
behind  and  originated  the  State  and  Federal  govern 
ments  and  fused  them  into  a  nation.  The  production 
of  the  scintilla  of  a  historical  or  political  fact  to 
sustain  the  assertion  may  be  safely  challenged. 
Acting  as  a  unit,  or  in  the  aggregate,  the  people  of 
the  United  States,  or  a  constituency  behind  and 
below  Federal  and  State  governments,  never  did  a 

political  act,   and  never  can,   without   a   thorough 
10 


146  REMINISCENCES  OF  JEFFERSON  DAVIS. 

revolution  in  our  whole  system.  When  and  where 
did  this  ( constituency '  ever  assemble,  or  vote,  or 
legislate,  or  adjudicate,  or  execute?  The  Union,  as 
a  government,  had  as  its  ' originating  cause'  the 
people  of  the  several  States,  acting  in  their  separate 
and  sovereign  conventions  as  distinct  political  com 
munities.  The  States,  acting  individually,  called 
the  Convention  of  1787,  and  the  States,  each  for 
itself,  binding  its  citizens,  ratified  and  thus  adopted 
the  Constitution.  Now,  whether  the  government, 
the  Union,  thus  constituted,  the  creature  of  the 
States,  was  the  final  judge  of  the  extent  of  the 
powers  granted  by  the  States  and  expressed  in  totidem 
verbis  in  the  Constitution,  or  whether  the  States,  as 
parties  to  and  creators  of  the  compact,  had  a  right 
to  judge  of  the  extent  of  the  powers  delegated  and 
reserved  and  to  protect  their  citizens  against  the 
encroachments  of  the  Federal  Government,  their 
agent,  is  the  question,  not  to  be  decided  by  figures  of 
rhetoric  or  sectional  prejudice,  but  by  historical 
records  and  the  unimpeachable  antecedents  to  the 
formation  of  the  Federal  Government  or  Union. 
South  Carolina  held  that  she  entered  the  Union 
quoad  hoc,  to  the  extent  of  the  powers  delegated  in 
the  Constitution.  So  far  as  related  to  powers  re 
served  and  undelegated,  she  was  out  of  the  Union. 
She  held  that  the  Government  of  the  United  States, 
in  any  or  all  of  its  departments,  had  no  more  right 


CORRECTION  OF  MISREPRESENTATION.  147 

to  govern  her,  within  the  scope  of  the  reserved 
powers  and  outside  of  what  had  been  delegated,  than 
had  Great  Britain  or  France,  and  what  lawyer  who 
regards  the  Constitution  as  the  full  grant  of  all  the 
powers  of  the  Federal  Government  can  hold  other 
wise  ?  " 

III.  The  Constitution  of  the  Confederate  States 
was  not  the  overthrow  of  a  representative  republic. 
It  was  the  re-enactment  of  the  Constitution  of  the 
United  States  with  the  Southern  interpretation  of 
that  instrument.  It  was  modeled  on  that  of  the 
United  States  and  followed  it  with  rigid  literalness, 
except  on  the  subject  of  African  slavery.  It  sought 
to  protect  the  rights  of  the  States  and  the  rights  of 
the  people  and  the  rights  of  property  against  usurpa 
tion  or  oppression.  The  most  prejudiced  critic  will 
be  unable  to  find  clause  or  word  .hostile  to  any 
Northern  interest. 

The  New  York  Herald,  on  the  16th  of  March, 
1861,  published  the  Constitution  of  the  Confederate 
States  in  full,  and  on  the  19th  of  March  recommended 
the  adoption  by  the  United  States  of  "this  ultimatum 
of  the  seceded  States."  It  said  :  "  The  new  Consti 
tution  is  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  with 
various  modifications  and  some  very  important  and 
most  desirable  improvements.  We  are  free  to  say 
that  the  invaluable  reforms  enumerated  should  be 
adopted  by  the  United  States,  with  or  without  a  re- 


148  REMINISCENCES  OF  JEFFERSON  DAVIS. 

union  of  the  seceded  States,  and  as  soon  as  possible. 
But  why  not  accept  them  with  the  propositions  of 
the  Confederate  States  on  slavery  as  a  basis  of 
reunion  ?  " 

IV.  The  Confederacy  had  the  enthusiastic  assent 
of  the  people  of  the  Southern  States.     The  votes  in 
behalf  of  secession  and  of  the  adoption  of  the  Con 
stitution  were  deliberate  and  voluntary.     The  war 
was  sustained  with  equal  zeal  and  unanimity.     No 
people  ever  endured  more  cheerfully  such  privations 
and  sacrifices.     Since  the  war,  President  Davis  has 
been  censured  for  not  making  peace.     It  has  been 
said  that  he,  as  President  and  Commander-in-chief, 
knew  the  exhaustion  of  our  resources,  the  rapidly- 
diminishing  Army,  the  inability  to  sustain  the  terri 
bly  unequal  contest.     Without  entering  upon  that 
question  it  may  be  incontestably  said  that  it  is  very 
doubtful  whether  the  States  would  have  sanctioned 
peace  without  independence ;  it  is  almost  certain  the 
Army  would  not. 

V.  It  is   often   absurdly  alleged  that  the  South 
premeditated   secession    and    made    large   military 
preparations  for  it.     The  accusation  is    ridiculous. 
Provision  for  war  was  an  impossibility.     In  1860, 
war  was  as  unanticipated  as  it  was  unwished  for.    One 
of  the  first  acts  of  President  Davis  was  to  accredit 
Commissioners   to   visit    Washington    and    use   all 
honorable  means  for  obtaining  a  satisfactory  adjust- 


CORRECTION  OF  MISREPRESENTATION.  149 

merit  of  all  questions  of  dispute  between  the  two 
Governments.  The  Confederacy  in  its  infancy  had 
neither  soldier  nor  seaman,  neither  army  nor  navy, 
neither  revenue  nor  credit.  It  had  not  even  the 
machinery  of  a  well-organized  general  Government. 
The  South  had  no  facilities  for  the  manufacture  of 
guns  or  any  of  the  munitions  of  war.  What  was 
extemporized  as  the  nucleus  for  defence  was  pur 
chased  in  Baltimore  and  Northern  cities.  The  South 
fought  against  most  unequal  odds.  She  was  con 
quered  by  the  avoirdupois  of  preponderant  force,  by 
a  rigidly-enforced  blockade,  by  wearing  attrition,  by 
a  decimation  of  people,  and  never  by  superior  valor 
or  skill.  She  combated  the  public  opinion  of 
Europe,  a  powerful  and  well-organized  Government, 
an  army  reenforced  at  will,  limitless  resources  of 
means  and  money,  and  as  much  skill  and  courage  as 
ever  assembled  under  a  nation's  flag  or  did  duty  at 
a  country's  call. 

VI.  Northern  religious  assemblies,  newspapers, 
poets  and  orators  indulge  in  much  self-commenda 
tion  because  of  the  abolition  of  slavery,  and  claim 
with  much  self-satisfaction  that  that  event,  which 
no  one  deprecates  or  regrets,  was  brought  about  in 
response  to  the  demands  of  the  Northern  conscience. 
No  right-thinking  person  will  be  disposed  to  with 
hold  from  abolitionists  whatever  credit  is  due  to 
them  for  their  opinions  and  propagandism,  but  it  is 


150  REMINISCENCES  OF  JEFFERSON  DAVIS. 

a  severe  and  naked  historical  fact  that  a  military 
necessity  compelled  emancipation.  The  document 
which  "  ushered  in  the  great  political  regeneration  of 
the  American  people/'  using  the  language  of  Mr. 
Lincoln's  biographers,  was  the  proclamation  of 
President  Lincoln,  declaring  the  freedom  on  1st  of 
January,  1863,  "of  all  persons  held  as  slaves  within 
any  State  then  in  rebellion  against  the  United 
States."  Mr.  Lincoln's  excuse  for,  or  vindication  of, 
this  exercise  of  power  he  gives  himself.  "  As  com- 
mander-in-chief  of  the  army  and  the  navy  in  the 
time  of  war,  I  suppose  I  have  the  right  to  take  any 
measure  which  may  best  subdue  the  enemy.  .  .  . 
I  view  the  matter  as  a  practical  war  measure,  to  be 
decided  on  according  to  the  advantages  or  disadvan 
tages  it  may  offer  to  the  suppression  of  the  rebel 
lion."  The  House  of  Representatives,  subsequently, 
by  a  vote  of  78  to  52,  adopted  a  resolution  that  the 
policy  of  emancipation  as  indicated  in  the  proclama 
tion  of  the  President,  "was  well- chosen  as  a  war 
measure." 

VII.  President  Davis  possessed  a  sound  judgment, 
tenacity  of  will,  tried  integrity  and  large  experience 
in  that  greatest  of  practical  arts — government ;  but 
the  Confederacy  furnished  little  scope  for  sagacious 
statesmanship.  The  difficulties  were  constant  and 
incalculable,  but  there  was  never  occasion  for  diplo 
macy  or  legislative  wisdom.  Financial  success  was 


CORRECTION  OF  MISREPRESENTATION.  151 

• 

beyond  human  attainment.  From  the  beginning  to 
the  sudden  collapse  of  the  Confederacy,  the  question 
was  one  of  arms,  of  patriotism,  of  patient  endur 
ance.  The  civil  was  necessarily  subordinated  to  the 
military.  How  to  raise  troops,  how  arm,  clothe, 
subsist,  transport,  officer  them,  how  make  and  keep 
effective  the  War  Department,  the  Commissary  and 
Quartermaster  Bureaux  :  these  were  the  questions 
to  be  grappled  with  and  they  proved  to  be  unman 
ageable. 


OPINIONS  AND  IMPRESSIONS. 

BY   HON.    A.    H.    GARLAND, 
Ex- Attorney-General  of  the  United  States.  • 

r  acquaintance  with   Mr.   Davis  began  on  the 
20th  day  of  May,  1861,  the  day  on  which  Ar 
kansas  was  admitted  a  member  of  the  Southern 
Confederacy.     I  was  one  of  the  five  members  from 
Arkansas  to  the  Provisional  Congress  of  the  Confed 
eracy,  then  in  session  at  Montgomery,  Ala.,   and  we 
called  upon  him  as  President  on  that  day,  and  dined 
with  him  at  his  private  residence. 

He  was  as  pleasant  and  affable,  I  think,  as  ever 
man  was,  and  discussed  matters  freely  and  with  deep 
concern,  showing  he  had  weighed  well  the  great 
undertaking  then  upon  him,  and  while  he  was  cheer 
ful  and  hopeful,  he  was  thoughtful.  He  seemed 
especially  gratified  that  Arkansas  had  joined  the 
Confederacy,  and  his  welcome  to  her  delegation  was 
cordiality  itself. 

The  particular  question  then  in  hand  and  exciting 
some  feeling  was,  whether  the  seat  of  government 
should  be  transferred  to  Richmond,  Va.  The  mem 
bers  of  Congress  were,  by  no  means,  united  on  this. 
Mr.  Davis  favored  the  change,  and  quietly  and  with 
out  exhibiting  any  feeling  on  the  subject  gave  his 

reasons  for  it. 
152 


OPINIONS  AND  IMPRESSIONS.  153 

\ 

In  a  few  days  the  vote  was  taken  and  the  change 
was  made.  The  session  at  Montgomery  soon  closed, 
and  Congress  and  the  President  separated,  amid 
exciting  scenes  of  preparation  for  the  gigantic  work 
before  them,  to  meet  again  the  following  July  in 
Richmond. 

At  Richmond,  on  Sunday,  the  day  of  the  first  bat 
tle  of  Manassas — in  my  memory  yet,  as  the  hottest, 
closest  and  most  sultry  day  I  ever  saw — with  two  or 
three  others,  I  called  upon  Mr.  Davis  and  spent  some 
little  time  with  him.  While  he  did  not  say  so,  yet 
he  intimated  important  events  were  transpiring 
north  of  the  capital,  and  in  canvassing  the  situation 
with  great  self-possession,  he  did  not  conceal  his 
anxiety;  and  sure  enough,  before  that  night  the 
first  step  that  led  on  almost  to  the  change  of  front 
of  the  world  had  been  taken. 

From  this  time  forward  being,  after  the  termina 
tion  of  the  Provisional  Congress,  a  member  of  the 
House  of  Representatives  of  the  permanent  Congress 
for  nearly  two  terms,  and  a  Senator  just  before  and 
at  the  close  of  the  war,  I  had  almost  daily  inter 
course  with  Mr.  Davis,  meeting  him  often  privately, 
and  frequently  as  one  of  a  committee  to  discuss 
public  measures  and  affairs. 

In  one  of  those  interviews  he  preserved  that  ex 
cellence  of  manner  and  address  for  which  he  was  so 
deservedly  noted.  With  the  energy  of  his  con  vie- 


154  REMINISCENCES  OF  JEFFERSON  DAVIS. 

tions,  he  would  maintain  his  views,  but  not  petu 
lantly  or  dictatorially,  and  conceded  the  utmost  lati 
tude  of  opinion  and  expression  to  all. 

Mr.  Davis  has  often  been  called  obstinate.  I 
think  this  is  an  exaggeration.  That  he  was  a  man 
of  deep  and  strong  convictions,  and  feared  not  to 
express  them  there  can  be  no  question :  that  he  was 
a  man  of  great  power  of  purpose  is  equally  true,  and 
I  know  of  no  one  who  is  much  account  who  has  not 
a  large  share  of  that ;  and  filling  the  positions  Mr. 
Davis  did,  to  have  been  without  it,  one  would  have 
been  most  singularly  out  of  place.  Obstinacy  im 
plies  an  unyielding  to  reason,  to  argument :  it  is  an 
accompaniment  of  ignorance.  But  Mr.  Davis  was, 
by  no  means,  an  ignorant  man ;  quite  the  contrary, 
he  was  learned  and  accomplished,  and  his  was  an 
intelligent  decision  of  character.  He  had  been,  and 
was  when  I  knew  him,  a  close,  industrious  student, 
and  he  possessed  vast,  knowledge,  which  he  could 
impart  in  the  most  felicitous  manner,  either  by  word 
or  by  writing. 

His  political  struggles  in  Mississippi  had  been 
fierce  and  straining  to  the  utmost.  That  was  the 
order  of  the  day  then  and  there.  In  that  State, 
where  lived  probably  more  gifted  popular  orators 
than  in  any  other  State,  according  to  population,  he 
had  many  a  hard-fought  field,  and  there  he  won  his 
laurels  among  the  foremost. 


f-          OPINIONS  AND  IMPKESSIONS."  "155 

Probably  no  contest  in  any  country  was  more  in 
tensely  interesting  and  more  absorbing  than  was  his 
with  Governor  Foote  for  the  Governorship  of  Missis 
sippi  in  1851,  and  probably  never  was  a  political 
conflict  waged,  on  both  sides,  with  more  stubborn 
determination. 

The  excitement  went  away  out  of  and  beyond  the 
territory  of  Mississippi.  Coming  up  the  Mississippi 
river  that  fall  just  after  the  election,  but  before  its 
result  was  generally  known,  on  the  old  "Fannie 
Smith,"  one  of  the  finest  crafts  that  ever  walked  the 
waters,  I  heard  nothing  but,  "  What's  the  news  from 
the  Mississippi  election?"  till  I  reached  Louisville, 
Ky.  At  every  landing,  from  Memphis  to  Louisville, 
old  men  and  old  women,  young  men  and  young 
women,  and  boys  and  girls,  would  crowd  to  and  upon 
the  boat  as  she  landed,  until  she  would  almost  turn 
over,  crying  out  at  the  top  of  their  voices,  "  Who's 
elected  Governor  of  Mississippi  ?  " 

Passing  through  such  struggles,  he  would  have 
been  something  more  than  man  if  their  impress  had 
not  been  left  upon  him.  Doubtless  they  did  con 
tribute  to  make  firm  and  solid  a  nature  already  much 
self-possessed  and  self-reliant. 

I  have  spoken  of  him  as  an  educated  and  accom 
plished  man,  and  in  this  connection  I  have  often 
thought  his  State  papers  and  his  communications  to 
Congress  were  models  of  English  composition.  In 


156  KEMINISCENCES  OF  JEFFERSON  DAVIS. 

my  opinion,  in  this  respect  they  have  not  been  ex 
celled. 

Being  a  positive  and  direct  man,  he  always  im 
pressed  me  that  he  was  brave  and  courageous,  and 
true  to  the  principles  he  advocated.  The  service  he 
did  the  Republic,  and  the  glory  he  won  before  the 
birth  of  the  Confederacy,  entitle  him  to  this  praise. 
And  I  doubt  not  there  was  not  an  hour  during  the 
war  between  the  States  he  would  not  have  given  up 
his  life  as  readily  as  he  would  have  put  a  cent  in  a 
charity  box,  if  by  so  doing  he  believed  he  could  have 
secured  the  independence  of  the  Confederacy. 

His  care  and  solicitude  for  the  Confederate  soldiers 
was  manifest  upon  every  occasion,  and  it  was  the 
genuine  exhibition  of  a  father's  love  for  his  children. 

It  has  been  said  often,  that  with  some  one  else  at 
the  head  of  the  Confederacy  the  result  would  have 
been  different.  This  I  do  not  subscribe  to.  Mr. 
Davis  managed  her  affairs  as  well,  in  my  judgment, 
as  they  could  have  been,  and  he  did  all  for  the 
people  who  trusted  him  that  could  have  been  done ; 
and  he  came  just  as  near  succeeding  as  any  other 
one  would  who  might  have  been  in  his  place. 

The  debate  as  to  his  true  position  in  history  will 
be  long — may  be  endless.  Certain  it  is,  the  time  is 
not  yet  when  this  verdict  can  be  made  up  and 
entered.  Plutarch,  in  his  essays,  speaks  of  one 
Antiphanes,  who  told  it,  that  in  a  certain  city  the 


OPINIONS  AND  IMPKESSIONS.  157 

cold  was  so  intense  that  words  were  congealed  as 
soon  as  spoken,  but  that  after  some  time  they  thawed 
and  became  audible,  so  that  words  spoken  in  winter 
were  articulated  next  summer.  The  fitting  opinions 
and  impressions  formed  of  Mr.  Davis  may  as  yet  be 
congealed,  and  be  not  heard,  but  in  the  softening 
influence  of  the  future — when  summer  comes — they 
too  may  be  thawed  and  made  audible,  and  he  will 
be  ranked  among  the  first  who  have  figured  in 
history. 


W 


MEMORIAL  ADDRESS. 

BY  J.    RANDOLPH   TUCKER. 

E  come  on  the  invitation  of  the   Governor   of 


the  Commonwealth  to  join  with  millions  in 
the  South,  and  in  union  with  those  who  at 
tend  upon  the  obsequies  at  New  Orleans  to  do  re 
verence  to  the  splendid  name  and  fame  of  Jefferson 
Davis,  the  soldier,  the  statesman  and  the  Christian 
patriot.  We  come  to  bury  Davis — and  to  praise 
him. 

We  will  not  revive  the  thoughts,  the  motives  or 
the  actions  of  a  past  generation,  but  with  warm  and 
honest  hearts  we  avow,  that  though  our  Confederacy 
be  buried  forever,  we  still  love  and  revere  the  truth 
and  integrity,  the  constancy  and  fortitude,  the  honor 
and  the  virtues,  the  genius  and  the  patriotism  of  the 
heroes  who  led  and  filled  our  armies ;  and  of  the 
executive  chieftain  whose  master  hand  directed  our 
destiny  in  that  momentous  crisis. 

Jefferson  Davis  was  born  in  Kentucky  in  1808.  I 
do  not  doubt  that  his  name  gave  direction  to  his 
opinions  by  throwing  his  mind  under  the  fascinating 
influence  of  Thomas  Jefferson,  whose  writings  have 
exerted  so  large  a  power  over  the  American  people. 

Mr.    Jefferson    in    his   political   philosophy   had 
158 


MEMORIAL  ADDRESS.  159 

evolved  two  ultimate  principles.  The  first,  the  self- 
determinant  power  of  the  man  which  led  him  to  his 
sentiment  for  the  universal  freedom  of  all  men  under 
proper  conditions.  The  second,  the  self-determinant 
power  of  the  State  in  the  Federal  Union,  as  essential 
to  the  freedom  of  its  people  from  the  despotism  of 
centralism. 

Kentucky  gave  birth  to  two  men  in  the  early  part 
of  the  century,  Jefferson  Davis  and  Abraham  Lincoln. 
Both  of  these  embodied  the  ultimate  principles  just 
mentioned  of  Mr.  Jefferson,  but  not  in  like  propor 
tions.  Mr.  Lincoln  held  to  unconditional  emancipa 
tion  as  far  as  political  -power  reached,  and  did  not 
hold  the  limit  on  power  imposed  by  the  second  prin 
ciple  to  the  same  extent  or  with  the  same  tenacity 
with  which  it  was  held  by  Mr.  Jefferson.  On  the 
other  hand,  Mr.  Davis,  while  no  doubt  holding  to 
the  ultimate  freedom  of  all  men,  recognized  the  con 
ditions  which  environed  the  question,  making  eman 
cipation  practically  difficult,  and  gave  more  force  to 
them  as  postponing  the  result ;  and  held  with  uncon 
ditional  tenacity  to  the  second  principle  as  essential 
to  the  autonomy  of  the  States  of  the  South,  and  to 
the  political  liberty  of  their  people. 

Young  Davis  went  to  West  Point  as  a  cadet,  as 
the  son  of  his  mother  Mississippi,  who  sent  him  there 
to  be  educated  for  her,  upon  the  basis  of  her  contri 
bution  through  taxation  to  the  expenses  necessary 


160  REMINISCENCES  OF  JEFFERSON  DAVIS. 

for  the  support  of  the  Military  Academy.  He  en 
listed  in  the  army,  and  distinguished  himself  as  a 
gallant  officer  in  the  Black  Hawk  war. 

As  a  young  lieutenant,  Davis  won  the  love  of  the 
daughter  of  General  Zachary  Taylor,  afterwards 
president  of  the  United  States.  With  the  father's 
consent  he  married  her,  and  in  three  months  he  bur 
ied  this  beautiful  object  of  his  early  love.  The  story 
of  his  grief  and  devotion  to  her  memory,  as  told  to 
me,  shows  how  tender  and  true  was  this  strong,  brave 
man — to  become  in  later  years,  as  we  have  seen,  a 
man  of  destiny. 

He  left  the  army,  and  devoting  himself  to  planta 
tion  life — that  realm  for  thoughtful  speculation  and 
philosophical  study  with  a  large  class  of  southern 
men,  who  have  filled  a  conspicuous  place  in  the  his 
tory  of  the  country — became  a  close  student  of  con 
stitutional  history  and  government. 

He  was  soon  elected  to  the  House  of  Representa 
tives,  but  when  the  Mexican  war  broke  out  in  1846, 
he  raised  a  regiment  of  Mississippi  riflemen,  took  a 
distinguished  part  in  the  siege  of  Monterey,  and 
with  his  regiment  decided  the  fate  of  the  day  on 
the  victorious  field  of  Buena  Vista,  Feb.  22d  and 
23d,  1847. 

Mississippi  then  sent  Colonel  Davis  to  the  Senate 
of  the  U.  S.,  where  during  the  celebrated  debates  on 
the  compromise  measures  of  1850  he  took  a  promi- 


MEMORIAL  ADDRESS.  161 

hent  place.  It  was  at  that  time  1  first  saw  him, 
when  he  rose  with  brave  and  manly  face  to  challenge 
to  discussion  the  celebrated  Henry  Clay  then  as  now, 
one  of  the  most  striking  figures  in  all  American  his 
tory. 

Mr.  Davis  was  beaten  by  Henry  S.  Foote  for  Gov 
ernor  in  1851,  and  remained  thereafter  in  private  life 
until  called  to  the  War  Department  by  President 
Pierce  in  March,  1853.  Here  he  displayed  great  ca 
pacity  for  organization,  and  in  the  administration  of 
the  details  of  the  War  office,  of  which  even  his  ene 
mies  do  not  scruple  to  testify. 

In  1857  he  returned  to  the  Senate,  where  he  re 
mained  until  the  winter  of  1860-61,  when  Mississippi 
having  seceded  from  the  Union,  Mr.  Davis  withdrew 
from  the  Senate,  after  delivering  a  valedictory  ad 
dress  which  produced  a  profound  impression  upon  his 
audience,  and  upon  the  public  at  large. 

In  February,  1861,  he  was  called  to  be  President 
of  the  Confederate  States  of  America,  and  so  contin 
ued  to  be  until  the  surrender  of  the  Confederate 
armies  in  April,  1865.  In  May  of  that  year  he  was 
captured  and  was  closely  confined  until  1867  in  For 
tress  Monroe,  when  he  was  released  on  Habeas  Cor 
pus  on  application  to  the  United  States  Court. 

It  is  a  pleasure  to  announce  that  while  the  conduct 
of  that  proceeding  was  directed  by  the  pre-eminent 

counsellor,   Charles   O'Connor,   of    New   York,   the 
11 


162  REMINISCENCES  OF  JEFFERSON  DAVIS. 

honor  of  being  associated  with  him  was  shared  in  a 
subordinate  position  by  me.  After  his  release,  the 
first  use  of  his  freedom  manifests  the  tenderness  of 
the  father's  heart ;  he  and  Mrs.  Davis  went  to  visit 
and  to  dress  the  grave  of  the  young  son  they  had 
lost  during  the  war. 

He  went  back  to  his  home.  He  was  never  tried 
— he  was  never  re-arrested.  He  asked  not  for  a  re 
moval  of  his  political  disabilities.  They  were  never 
removed. 

During  the  years  which  have  passed  since  his  re 
lease,  Mr.  Davis  has  written  a  very  able  and  valuable 
history  of  the  Confederate  States,  in  which  there  is 
a  disquisition  on  the  constitutional  questions  involved 
in  their  secession  from  the  Union.  And  thus,  with 
drawn  from  public  observation,  he  has  lived  at  his 
home,  until  at  the  age  of  81  years,  he  closed  his  life 
on  the  6th  inst.,  in  New  Orleans. 

After  this  epitome  of  his  life  the  question  presses 
for  answer,  why  do  we  join  in  this  tribute  to  his 
memory  ? 

Several  answers  may  be  given. 

First,  he  was  in  himself  worthy  of  our  admiration 
and  esteem.  He  had  a  splendid  intellect,  keen  and 
critical  in  insight,  and  profound  and  diligent  in  re 
search.  Bold  in  conception,  he  was  logical  in  pro 
cess.  A  philosophical  thinker  on  the  highest  prob 
lems  of  Political  Science,  he  had  in  a  high  degree 


MEMORIAL  ADDRESS.  163 

the  practical  sense  for  the  administration  of  public 
affairs. 

In  the  Senate,  standing  erect  in  mind  and  person, 
as  a  champion  of  the  truth,  he  flung  down  the  gage 
of  battle  in  the  arena  of  debate  with  a  courage  as 
heroic  as  his  courtesy  was  knightly.  His  will  was 
guided  by  convictions — the  deepest  convictions.  He 
had,  it  is  true,  his  prejudices  and  his  preferences. 
His  judgment,  despite  these,  was  sound  and  reliable, 
though  not  infallible.  His  soul  was  the  seat  of 
honor  and  chivalry.  He  was  true  to  friends,  and 
firm  and  resolute  to  foes.  His  affections  were  ardent^ 
his  impulses  noble,  his  motives  pure,  and  his  faith  in 
God  fixed,  humble  and  sincere. 

2.  Again,  we  owe  him  reverence,  for  Davis  was 
the  heroic  friend  of  the  South  Land.  He  did  not 
seek  her  archonship,  it  sought  him.  He  heard  her 
clarion  call  and  he  obeyed  it  with  a  religious  purpose 
to  save  her  liberty  in  the  new  Confederacy.  Among 
all  her  men,  he  seemed  to  have  the  combination  of 
qualities  which  best  fitted  him  for  the  service. 

He  had  experience  in  statesmanship,  practical 
knowledge  of  affairs,  eloquence,  logic  and  personal 
magnetism;  and  a  resolution  which  could  not  be 
turned  aside,  and  a  will  which  would  not  yield  to 
fear,  and  which  could  not  be  seduced  by  policy  or 
personal  interest.  Take  him  as  civilian  and  soldier, 
as  orator  and  logician,  as  statesman  and  popular 


164  KEMINISCENCES  OF  JEFFERSON  DAVIS. 

leader,  as  a  judicious  counsellor  and  the  possessor  of 
an  aggressive  and  unbending  will ;  I  think  it  may 
be  said  that  none  of  his  contemporaries  equaled  him 
in  the  entireness  of  his  manhood,  though  many  ex 
celled  him  in  some  one  of  his  wonderful  gifts.  If  he 
failed,  who  could  have  succeeded  ?  If  he  made  mis 
takes,  which  one  of  his  contemporaries  would  have 
made  less  in  number  or  less  in  degree  ?  This  much 
is  undoubtedly  true,  Jefferson  Davis  heroically  main 
tained  the  principles  for  which  the  South  contended, 
with  an  eye  that  never  quailed,  with  a  cheek  that 
never  blanched,  a  step  that  never  faltered,  a  courage 
that  never  flinched,  a  fortitude  that  never  failed,  a 
fidelity  that  even  captivity  could  not  repress,  and 
with  a  constancy  even  unto  death  !  For  four  years 
without  commerce  or  national  recognition ;  with  a 
government  new  and  imperfectly  organized ;  with 
army  and  navy  to  be  raised ;  with  Department  of 
War  and  bureaux  of  war  supplies  to  be  improvised ; 
with  scarcely  one-half  the  numbers  of  its  foe  and  less 
than  half  the  resources,  the  Confederacy  under  his 
leadership,  and  with  the  genius  of  its  military  and 
naval  heroes,  upheld  a  conflict  which  was  the  mira 
cle  of  the  age  in  which  it  occurred,  and  will  be  the 
romance  of  the  future  historian.  It  is  true  the  Con 
federacy  went  down  below  the  horizon  of  history 
forever,  and  its  name  as  a  nation  is  effaced  from  the 
page  of  human  annals  for  all  time  to  come ;  yet  the 


MEMORIAL  ADDRESS.  165 

cheeks  of  our  children  will  not  blush  for  its  fate,  but 
will  flush  with  pride  and  admiration,  as  they  hear 
the  tale  of  the  patience,  constancy  and  fortitude,  the 
adventurous  daring,  and  heroism,  the  genius  of 
leadership,  and  the  victories  of  their  noble  fathers. 

Our  Confederacy  sank  in  sorrow,  but  not  in  shame. 
Dark  and  gloomy  clouds  gathered  in  heavy  folds 
around  its  setting,  but  they  did  not — they  could  not 
blacken  it !  It  lit  them  into  effulgence  with  its  own 
transcendent  glory. 

3.  But  again,  Jefferson  Davis  deserves  our  rever 
ence  because  he  has  stood  for  a  quarter  of  a  century 
in  our  place.  He  endured  a  cruel  captivity  for  two 
years,  and  for  the  residue  of  that  time  has  been  the 
vicarious  victim  of  obloquy  and  reproach  due  to  us 
all,  and  heaped  upon  him  alone  by  the  press  and 
people  of  the  North.  His  fortitude  and  devotion  to 
truth  never  failed.  He  endured  not  in  silence,  but 
with  a  protest  which  history  has  recorded,  and  will 
preserve  as  an  emphatic  vindication  of  the  Confed 
eracy  which  had  perished,  from  malign  aspersions  on 
the  motives  of  its  friends,  on  the  origin  and  causes 
of  its  formation  and  on  the  purposes  of  justice  and 
liberty,  which  inspired  those  who  died  in  its  defence, 
or  who  survived  to  illustrate  its  principles  in  doing 
the  duties,  public  and  private,  which  God  in  his 
providence  assigned  them  to  perform.  He  died  a 
citizen  of  Mississippi  and  of  the  United  States,  and 


166  REMINISCENCES  OF  JEFFERSON  DAVIS. 

under  disability  to  hold  office  under  the  government 
of  the  United  States.  He  desired  no  place;  why 
should  he  ?  He  had  filled  his  place  in  the  temple  of 
fame  and  in  the  domain  of  history.  In  personal 
dignity,  and  in  the  peace  of  God,  he  lived  and  died. 
What  artificial  disability  could  taint  his  real  nature  ? 
Why  seek  to  remove  it?  He  had  made  an  heroic 
and  honest  effort  to  give  freedom  and  independence 
to  the  South  and  had  failed.  God's  will  be  done ! 
He  chose  the  sacred  retirement  of  home,  its  charms 
of  family  and  friends,  of  calm  and  [philosophical  re 
flection  and  study,  and  waited  with  firm  reliance  on 
divine  goodness  for  the  last  summons,  which  comes 
to  him  who  has  humbly  but  bravely,  conscientiously, 
and  with  undaunted  courage  and  patience,  done  his 
duty,  as  he  saw  it,  to  truth,  to  his  country  and  to 
God! 

"  Whether  on  cross  uplifted  high, 

Or  in  the  battle's  van ; 
The  fittest  place  for  man  to  die, 
Is  where  he  dies  for  man  !  '* 

Virginia !  Rockbridge  !  Lexington  !  ever  keeping 
guard  over  the  holy  dust  of  Lee  and  Jackson,  turn 
aside  to-day  with  millions  of  your  countrymen ; 
with  mournful  reverence  and  tender  hearts  to  twine 
a  wreath  of  martial  glory  and  weave  a  chaplet  of 
civic  fame,  to  rest  upon  the  tomb  of  Jefferson 
Davis !  In  a  peculiar  sense  the  fate  of  our  Confed- 


EULOGY  ON  JEFFERSON  DAVIS.  167 

eracy  is  recalled  to-day.  On  its  grave — finally 
closed  this  hour — will  be  inscribed  in  imperishable 
characters  the  immortal  name  of  the  martial  civilian 
who  was  its  first,  its  only  President.  We  plant 
flowers  about  it  and  water  them  with  our  tears,  not 
hoping  for,  or  as  emblems  of  its  anticipated  resur 
rection,  but  to  embalm  it  in  our  fragrant  memories 
and  in  our  most  precious  affections.  And  then, 
turning  from  the  ashes  of  our  dead  past  to  the  ac 
tive  duty  dictated  by  the  example  and  counsels  of 
our  departed  leaders,  Albert  Sidney  Johnston,  Stone 
wall  Jackson,  Robert  E.  Lee  and  Jefferson  Davis, 
we  will  labor  with  a  fidelity  wrought  by  the  stern 
but  noble  discipline  of  our  past  experience,  for  the 
maintenance  of  the  constitutional  liberty,  they  im 
perilled  their  lives  to  save,  and  for  the  promotion  of 
the  true  prosperity,  progress  and  glory  of  our  com 
mon  country. 


JEFFERSON  DAVIS. 

BY  HON.    G.    G.    VEST, 
United  States  Senator  from  Missouri. 

WITH  the  multitude,  "success  is  the  criterion 
of  merit."  When  the  Confederate  Armies 
surrendered  their  battle  flags,  they  surren 
dered  also  the  history  of  their  heroic  struggle 
against  the  overwhelming  numbers  hurled  upon 
them.  It  is  not  meant  by  this  that  the  record  of 
battles,  campaigns  and  sieges  became  the  property 
of  the  victors,  but  only  that  the  outside  world  can 
never  know  the  motives  of  the  vanquished,  their 
devotion  to  what  they  believed  to  be  the  right, 
their  heroism  during  the  long,  dark  years  of  that 
bloody  struggle,  when  the  prejudices  of  the  civil 
ized  world  were  arrayed  against  their  cause,  and 
the  mercenaries  of  every  land  swelled  the  armies 
of  their  adversary,  i  The  cause  of  the  Confederate 
States  was  under  the  ban  of  Christendom,  because 
identified  with  African  slavery.  It  was  useless 
then,  and  it  is  useless  now,  to  attempt  an  expla 
nation  to  foreigners,  the  masses  of  whom  are  un 
acquainted  with  our  institutions  and  their  history, 

and  whose  educated  men  even  are  imperfectly  in- 
168 


JEFFERSON  DAVIS.  169 

formed  as  to  the  autonomy  of  our  Government,  of 
the  fundamental  and  radical  difference  of  Constitu 
tional  construction  which  began  with  the  adoption 
of  the  Constitution  in  1789,  and  culminated  in 
Civil  War.  The  world  is  too  busy  for  such  discus 
sion,  and  results  alone  are  regarded. 
(  No  one,  amongst  public  men,  knew  so  well  the 
odds  in  favor  of  the  United  States  and  against  the 
Confederacy,  in  the  event  of  war,  as  did  Jefferson 
Davis.  He  was  an  educated  soldier,  and  had  dis 
tinguished  himself  upon  the  battle-field  and  as  Sec 
retary  of  War.  He  was  a  statesman,  earnest,  la 
borious  and  'unwearying  in  the  examination  of 
public  questions  and  the  resources  of  every  section. 
His  service  in  the  Senate  and  Cabinet,  and  the  at 
trition  of  debate  with  the  ablest  minds,  gave  him 
accurate  information  of  the  military  strength  of 
both  North  and  South.  His  intellect  was  acute, 
well-trained  and  untiring.  He  was  cool,  deliberate, 
without  the  passion  that  clouds  reason,  and  cau 
tious  in  all  his  conclusions.  The  fierce  excitement 
aroused  by  sectional  controversy  did  not  hurry  him 
into  secession ;  but  he  went  with  his  people,  believ 
ing  they  were  right,  and  prepared  for  any  fate.V 

Mr.  Davis  believed  that  the  North  had  resolved 
upon  the  invasion  and  destruction  of  Constitutional 
guarantees,  upon  which  rested  the  property  rights, 
social  life,  and  even  the  autonomy  of  the  Southern 


170  REMINISCENCES  OF  JEFFERSON  DAVIS. 

States.  In  his  deliberate  judgment  the  election  of 
Mr.  Lincoln  to  the  Presidency  upon  the  sectional 
basis  of  opposition  to  slave  property,  meant  that  the 
South  must  submit  to  political  degradation  and  dis 
honor,  or  sever  their  connection  with  the  Union, 
and  face  the  result. 

He  knew  that  the  South  was  not  alone  responsi 
ble  for  African  slavery,  but  that  the  North  had 
clung  to  it  until  slavery  had  ceased  to  be  profitable. 
He  knew  that  in  the  formation  of  the  Constitution 
the  New  England  States  had  agreed  to  the  extension 
of  the  slave  trade,  in  order  to  secure  the  navigation 
laws  which  they  considered  vitally  important  to 
their  commerce. 

With  this  knowledge  he  resented  with  all  the 
vehemence  of  a  strong  and  manly  nature  the 
hypocritical  pretence  that  "slavery  was  a  cove 
nant  with  death, — a  league  with  hell,"  and  that 
the  Northern  conscience  could  not  longer  tolerate 
its  existence. 

His  intelligence  discerned  clearly  the  true  intent, 
partially  concealed,  in  the  avowal  that  slavery  would 
not  be  attacked  in  the  States,  but  could  not  be 
extended  to  other  territory.  He  had  been  taught 
by  history  that  sentimental  and  sectional  fanaticism 
would  never  stop  until  all  its  objects 'we re  accom 
plished,  and  he  understood  the  full  force  of  the  fren 
zied  appeal  to  the  Northern  people,  "that  slavery 


JEFFERSON  DAVIS.  171 

must  be  surrounded  by  a  cordon  of  fire  until,  like  a 
viper,  it  stung  itself  to  death." 

Mr.  Davis  knew,  as  did  every  reflecting  man  not 
an  unreasoning  optimist,  that  the  election  of  Lin 
coln    meant    to    the    South    degradation    or    war. 
The  idle  talk  of  fighting  in  the  Union,  and  under} 
the  flag,  did  not  touch  his  knowledge  that  the  real  / 
Union  had  disappeared  with   the  supremacy  of  a 
party  based  upon  the  idea  of  destroying  the  property 
rights  of  the  people  in  fifteen  States. 

With  these  opinions  and  convictions  Jefferson 
Davis  gave  himself  unreservedly,  heart,  soul  and 
brain,  to  the  cause  of  his  people. 

It  was  his  ardent  wish  to  serve  in  the  field,  for  he 
was  by  instinct  and  training  a  soldier,  but  he  was 
called  to  the  Presidency  of  the  infant  republic,  and, 
with  full  knowledge  of  the  terrible  task,  accepted  it 
with  solemn  and  earnest  purpose. 

To  those  who  have  no  knowledge  of  the  inner  life 
of  the  Confederate  Government,  it  is  difficult  to 
convey  even  an  inadequate  idea  of  the  difficulties 
which  confronted  the  President  of  the  Confederate 
States. 

The  Southern  people,  brave  and  devoted,  were  im 
petuous,  untrained,  and  unprepared  for  war.  Their 
leaders  in  political  life  were  men  of  great,  but  irregu 
lar  talents,  ambitious,  fierce  and  intractable.  Their 
ideas  of  war  were  crude  and  impracticable.  In  the 


172  KEMIN1SCENCES  OF  JEFFEKSON  DAVIS. 

matter  of  supplies,  so  absolutely  necessary  to  mili 
tary  success,  they  had  been  taught  by  De-Bow's 
Review  that  "  Cotton  was  king,"  and  that  a  cotton 
famine  in  Europe  would  force  England  and  the  great 
Continental  powers  to  interfere  in  behalf  of  the  Con 
federate  States.  As  this  dream  vanished,  and  all  the 
horrors  of  war  came  nearer  to  the  homes  and  hearts 
of  the  Southern  people,  as  their  finances  became 
disordered,  their  supplies  exhausted,  and  the  ranks 
of  their  armies  thinned  by  disease  and  death,  dema 
gogues  and  traitors,  jealous  rivals,  and  half-hearted 
friends  turned  against  the  head  of  the  government, 
and  charged  the  mass  of  accumulating  misfortune 
to  his  evil  and  malign  influence.  He  was  accused  of 
prejudice,  nepotism,  kingly  ambition,  and  as  the 
sound  of  hostile  guns  came  nearer  and  nearer  to  the 
beleaguered  capital  of  the  Confederacy,  the  louder 
swelled  the  clamor  of  this  discordant  and  malignant 
disaffection. 

Collected  and  calm,  unmoved  by  misfortune,  un- 
vexed  by  accusation,  Jefferson  Davis  discharged  the 
trust  Deposed  in  him  by  the  Southern  people,  with 
the  heroic  and  sublime  devotion  of  a  martyr. 

That  he  made  many  mistakes  is  but  to  admit  that 
he  was  mortal.  That  his  confidence  was  often 
abused,  and  the  conclusions  he  reached  erroneous,  no 
one  will  deny  who  knows  the  truth ;  but  amidst 
unparalleled  difficulty  and  danger,  surrounded  by 


JEFFERSON  DAVIS.  173 

perils  within  and  without,  the  loyalty  of  Jefferson 
Davis  to  the  Southern  cause  was  never  doubted  by 
even  his  most  unrelenting  foes. 

When  the  end  came,  and  all  the  vials  of  the  vic 
tor's  wrath  were  emptied  upon  his  devoted  head, 
insulted  and  outraged,  manacled  in  a  felon  cell,  and 
watched  by  night  and  day,  as  if  a  wild  beast,  his 
splendid  courage  and  unshrinking  heroism  brought 
the  tears  to  even  manhood's  eyes  throughout  the 
world,  and  shamed  the  coward  pack  that  hounded 
him. 

At  last  there  came  an  hour  in  which  he  met  his 
accusers  face  to  face  in  a  Court  of  Justice  and  dared 
them  to  the  worst.  Serene  and  inflexible,  he  stood 
before  the  tribunal  an  incarnation  of  constancy  and 
fortitude.  In  his  person,  resolute  and  uncomplaining, 
submissive  to  the  will  of  God,  but  cringing  not  to 
mortal  man,  the  South  had  its  noblest  type  of  man 
hood.  He  was  its  true  representative,  and  every 
insult,  every  sorrow,  every  pang  endured  by  him 
thrilled  and  touched  every  Southern  heart. 

Amidst  the  flowers  of  the  South,  where  the  moan 
ing  gulf  sobs  its  requiem  for  the  glorious  dead, 
Jefferson  Davis  passed  the  closing  years  of  a  life 
which  will  cause  for  centuries  both  the  severest 
criticism  and  the  most  touching  devotion.  The 
events  in  his  career  are  too  recent,  the  colors  now 
too  vivid,  for  the  purpose  of  impartial  judgment. 


174  REMINISCENCES  OF  JEFFEKSON  DAVIS. 

The  time  will  come  when  all  will  see  in  the 
Southern  leader  that  one  great  quality,  which  in  all 
climes  and  ages  has  commanded  the  admiration  of 
mankind, — constant,  unyielding,  uncompromising  ad 
herence  to  what  he  believed  a  just  cause. 

To  the  Southern  people  there  will  be  no  change  in 
love  and  reverence  for  one  who  never  faltered  in  his 
love  for  them. 

Through  all  the  ages,  until  constancy,  courage  and 
honest  purpose  become  valueless  among  men,  the 
flowers  will  be  h^ap  d  by  loving  hands  upon  his 
grave. 


MEMORIAL    ADDRE'SS. 

BY  RKV.    MOSES  HOGE,    D.D. 

OjOMEWHAT  wearied,  as  I  am,  with  the  number 
k3  of  special  services  which  have  devolved  on  me 
of  late,  it  was  my  desire  and  effort  to  be  relieved 
of  the  one  now  assigned  to  me.  But  the  constraint 
laid  on  me  to  perform  it  was  one  I  could  not  proper 
ly  resist.  I  have  probably  been  called  to  undertake 
this  office  because  I  am  one  of  the  few  pastors  in  this 
city  who  resided  here  during  the  Civil  War,  and  be 
cause  circumstances  brought  me  into  personal  asso 
ciation  with  the  President  of  the  conquered  Confed 
eracy.  I  heard  his  first  address  to  the  Richmond 
people  from  the  balcony  of  Spotswood  Hotel, 
after  the  removal  of  the  capital  from  Montgomery. 
I  stood  beneath  the  ominous  clouds,  in  the  dismal 
rain  of  that  memorable  day,  the  22d  of  February, 
1862,  when,  from  the  platform  erected  near  the 
Washington  monument  in  the  Capitol  Square,  after 
prayer  by  Bishop  Johns,  he  delivered  his  inaugural 
address,  in  clear  but  gravely  modulated  tones.  I 
have  ridden  with  him  on  horseback  along  the  lines 
of  fortification  which  guarded  the  city.  I  have  had 
experiences  of  his  courtesy  in  his  house  and  in  his 
office.  I  was  with  him  in  Danville  after  the  evacu- 

175 


176  REMINISCENCES   OF  JEFFERSON  DAVIS. 

ation,  until  the  surrender  at  Appomattox  Court 
house  ;  and  while  I  never  aspired  to  intimacy  with 
him,  my  opportunities  were  such  as  enabled  me  to 
learn  the  personal  traits  which  characterized  him  as 
a  man,  as  well  as  the  official  and  public  acts  which 
marked  his  administration  and  which  now  form  a 
part  of  the  history  of  the  country. 

And  now  permit  me  to  say  a  word  with  regard  to 
the  kind  of  service  which  I  deem  appropriate  to  the 
hour  and  to  the  place  where  we  meet. 

This  is  a  memorial  service,  and  not  an  occasion  for 
the  discussion  of  topics  which  would  be  appropriate 
elsewhere  and  at  another  time. 

Every  congregation  assembled  in  our  churches  in 
these  Southern  States  to-day  forms  a  part  of  the  vast 
multitude  which  unites  in  mind  and  heart  with  the 
solemn  assembly  in  New  Orleans,  where,  in  the 
presence  of  the  dead,  the  funeral  services  are  in  pro 
gress  at  this  hour.  There,  all  that  is  most  tender 
and  most  impressive  centres,  and  it  becomes  all  who 
compose  those  outlying  congregations  to  feel  and  act 
in  sympathy  with  what  is  now  passing  in  the  sad 
but  queenly  city  which  guards  the  gates  of  the  Mis 
sissippi,  in  the  church  draped  in  sable,  and  where 
the  bereaved  sit  beside  the  pall  with  hearts  filled 
with  a  sorrow  which  no  outward  emblems  of  mourn 
ing  can  express. 

If  we  place  ourselves  in  sympathy  with  the  emo- 


MEMOKIAL  SERVICES.  177 

tions  whicli  concentre  there,  and  which  radiate  to 
the  wide  circumference  of  the  most  distant  congre 
gations  uniting  in  these  obsequies,  then  how  evident 
it  is  that  political  harangues  and  discussions  calcu 
lated  to  excite  sectional  animosities  are  utterly 
inappropriate  to  the  hour.  It  is  not  the  office  of 
the  minister  of  religion  to  deal  controversially  with 
the  irritating  subjects  which  awaken  party  strife. 
It  is  his  duty  and  privilege  to  soften  asperities,  to 
reconcile  antagonistic  elements,  to  plead  for  mutual 
forbearance,  to  urge  such  devotion  to  the  common 
weal  as  to  bring  all  the  people,  North,  South,  East 
and  West,  into  harmonious  relations  with  each 
other,  so  as  to  combine  all  the  resources  of  the  entire 
country  into  unity  of  effort  for  the  welfare  of  the 
whole.  I  trust  this  will  be  the  tone  and  spirit  of 
all  the  addresses  made  in  the  .  churches  to-day 
throughout  the  South;  and  may  I  not  hope  that 
as  there  are  no  geographical  boundaries  to  the  quali 
ties  which  constitute  noble  manhood,  such  as  courage, 
generosity,  fortitude,  and  personal  honor,  there  will 
be  many  in  the  Northern  and  Western  States  who 
will  be  in  sympathy  with  the  eulogies  which  will 
be  pronounced  to-day  by  the  speakers  who  hold  up 
to  view  those  characteristics  of  their  dead  chieftain 
which  have  always  commanded  the  admiration  of 
right-minded  and  right-hearted  men  in  all  lands  and 

in  all  centuries. 
12 


178  REMINISCENCES  OF  JEFFERSON  DAVIS. 

The  day  is  coming  when  the  question  will  not 
relate  so  much  to  the  color  of  the  uniform,  blue  or 
gray,  as  to  the  character  of  the  men  who  wore  it; 
when  the  question  will  be,  who  were  most  loyal  to 
what  they  believed  to  be  duty,  who  were  most 
dauntless  in  danger,  who  most  sublime  in  self-sacri 
fice,  who  illustrated  most  splendidly  the  ideal  of  the 
patriot  soldier? 

Before  the  commencement  of  the  strife  which 
ended  in  the  dismemberment  of  the  Union,  all 
men  familiar  with  the  life  of  Mr.  Davis,  whether 
as  a  cadet  at  West  Point,  as  a  soldier  in 
the  Mexican  war,  as  the  Governor  of  his  adopted 
State,  or  as  a  member  of  the  Senate  of  the 
United  States,  agree  in  regarding  him  as  entitled 
to  the  reputation  he  won  as  a  gallant  officer  and  a 
patriotic  statesman.  After  the  organization  of  the 
Southern  Confederacy,  whatever  conflicting  views 
men  may  entertain  with  regard  to  the  righteousness 
of  'the  part  he  took  in  its  formation,  or  as  to  the 
wisdom  of  his  course  as  its  Chief  Magistrate,  all 
alike  admit  the  sincerity  and  the  courage  of  his 
convictions,  and  the  indomitable  resolution  writh 
which  he  carried  out  his  plans,  with  a  decision  that 
nothing  could  shake,  and  with  a  devotion  that 
sought  nothing  for  self,  but  everything  for  the 
success  of  the  cause  to  which  he  had  consecrated 
his  life. 


MEMORIAL  SERVICES.  179 

This  leads  to  the  inquiry  as  to  the  qualities  and 
attributes  which  constitute  the  patriot  statesman, 
the  statesman  needed  for  all  time,  but  more  espe 
cially  for  our  own  day  and  country.  The  opinion 
has  been  recently  expressed  by  men  whose  words 
have  great  weight,  that  our  legislative  bodies  should 
be  composed  for  the  most  part  of  practical  business 
men,  thoroughly  acquainted  with  the  trade,  the 
commerce,  and  the  financial  interests  of  the  coun 
try.  With  a  single  qualification,  no  one  will  con 
trovert  the  truth  of  that  statement,  but  taken  alone, 
it  is  an  imperfect  enunciation  of  the  requirements 
of  legislation.  Associated  with  men,  no  matter  how 
conversant  with  the  commercial  interests  of  the 
country,  we  need  legislators  who  are  profound 
students  of  history,  philosophy  and  ethics  ;  men  who 
have  had  time  and  opportunities  for  thought  and 
for  the  thorough  investigation  of  the  principles  of 
government.  I  heard  Lord  Palmerston  say  in  the 
speech  he  delivered  at  his  inauguration  as  Lord 
Rector  of  the  University  of  Glasgow  that  the  differ 
ence  between  the  statesmen  of  Great  Britain  and 
France  was  owing  to  the  fact  that  the  latter  had 
been  trained  only  in  the  exact  sciences,  while  the 
former  had  been  drilled  in  metaphysics  and  moral 
philosophy ;  and  the  result  was,  that  while  French 
legislative  assemblies  had  been  filled  with  brilliant 
politicians,  the  British  Parliament  had  been  graced 


180  KEMINISCENCES  OF  JEFFEKSON  DAVIS. 

and  dignified  by  men  of  the  stamp  of  Burke  and 
Chatham  and  Fox  and  Peel  and  Canning. 

Who  were  the  men  who  framed  the  government 
under  which  we  live?  Who  wrote  the  masterly 
state  papers  which  excited  the  wonder  and  admira 
tion  of  the  best  thinkers  of  the  old  world  ?  Who 
wrote  the  Declaration  of  Independence  and  the 
Constitution,  which  brought  into  union  the  inde 
pendent  colonial  sovereignties?  Who  built  up  our 
system  of  Jurisprudence,  combining  the  merits  of 
Koman  civil  law  and  English  common  law?  All 
of  them  students  ;  men  who,  under  the  shade  of  their 
ancestral  trees,  in  the  retirement  of  their  Southern 
country  homes,  had  spent  their  lives  in  profound 
researches  into  the  principles  upon  which  just  gov 
ernment  is  founded,  and  then  were  capable  of 
elaborating  and  bringing  into  successful  operation 
the  wisest  form  of  government  the  world  ever  knew. 
Never  were  statesmen  of  this  type  so  much  needed 
in  our  national  councils  as  now. 

Then  I  add,  the  statesman  required  for  the  times 
is  one  who  has  the  courage  and  the  ability  to  lead 
public  opinion  in  ways  that  are  right,  instead  of 
waiting  to  ascertain  the  popular  drift,  no  matter 
how  base,  that  he  may  servilely  follow  it.  Unlike 
the  popularity  hunter,  who  never  asks  what  is  just, 
but  what  is  politic,  and  then  trims  his  sails  so  as  to 
catch  every  breeze  of  public  favor,  the  upright 


MEMOKIAL  SERVICES.  181 

statesman,  with  the  deep  conviction  that  nothing 
that  is  morally  wrong  can  be  politically  right,  steers 
directly  for  the  port  of  duty  along  a  line  in  which  no 
deflection  can  be  traced,  and  holds  his  course  in  the 
very  teeth  of  the  gale.  While  the  demagogue  dares 
attempt  nothing,  no  matter  how  noble,  which  might 
endanger  his  popularity,  the  patriot  statesman, 
when  assailed  by  obloquy,  is  not  greatly  troubled 
thereby,  but  calmly  waits  for  the  verdict  of  time, 
the  great  vindicator. 

When   the   path   of  duty   becomes   the   path   of 
danger,  the  upright  statesman  is  not  intimidated,/ 
but  remains  firm  as  the  rock  in  mid-ocean,  againsc 
which  the  invading  waves  beat  only  to  be  shivered\ 
into   spray.     While   the   tricky  demagogue   spends  * 
all  his  energies  in  directing  the  tactics  of  a  party, 
the  broad-minded  statesman   aspires  to  build   up  a 
noble  commonwealth,   and  rises  above    all   that   is 
selfish  and  mean,  because  the  ends  he  aims  at  are 
those  of  country,   God  and   truth.     Men   of  great 
gifts  often  fail  in  public  life  because  they  lack  the 
moral  basis  on  which  character  alone    can   stand. 
After  all,  integrity  is  one  of  the  strongest  of  living^, 
forces ;  and  what  the  people  seek  when  their  rights 
are  imperilled  is  not  so  much  for  men  of  brilliant 
talents  as  for  leaders  whose  chief  characteristics  are  ( 
untarnished  honor,  incorruptible   honesty,  and  the 
courage  to  do  right  .at  any  hazard. 


182  REMINISCENCES  OF  JEFFERSON  DAVIS. 

It  is  admitted  that  even  such  men  sometimes  fail 
to  secure  the  triumph  of  the  cause  for  which  they 
toil  and  make  every  sacrifice ;  but  the  very  failures 
of  such  men  are  nobler  than  the  success  of  the  unprin 
cipled  intriguer.  Keproach,  persecution,  misrepre 
sentation  and  poverty  have  often  been  the  fate  of  those 
who  have  suffered  the  loss  of  all  for  the  right  and 
true  ;  but  they  are  not  dishonored  because  the  igno 
ble  do  not  appreciate  their  character,  aims  and  efforts. 

"  Count  me  o'er  earth's  chosen  heroes  ;  they  were  souls  that  stood  alone  ; 
While  the  men  they  agonized  for,  hurled  the  contumelious  stone." 

Our  admiration  is  more  due  to  him  who  pursues 
the  course  he  thinks  right,  in  spite  of  disaster,  than 
to  one  who  succeeds  by  methods  which  reason  and 
conscience  condemn.  Defeat  is  the  discipline  which 
often  trains  the  heroic  soul  to  its  noblest  develop 
ment.  And  when  the  conviction  comes  that  he  has 
struggled  in  vain,  and  must  now  yield  to  the  inevi 
table,  then  he  may,  without  shame,  lay  down  his 
armor  in  the  assurance  that  others  will  rise  up  and 
put  it  on,  and  in  God's  good  time  vindicate  the 
principles  which  must  ultimately  triumph. 

Another  of  the  lessons  we  learn  from  the  eventful 
life  just  terminated  is  the  emptiness  and  vanity  of 
earthly  glory,  if  it  be  the  only  prize  for  which  the 
soul  has  contended.  "  As  for  man,  his  days  are  as 
grass.  He  cometh  forth  like  a  flower  ;  in  the  morn- 


MEMORIAL  SERVICES.  183 

ing  it  groweth  up  and  nourisheth  :  in  the  evening  it 
is  cut  down  and  withereth.  Surely  man  at  his  best 
estate  is  altogether  vanity."  Wealth,  honor,  power, 
military  renown,  popularity,  the  constituent  elements 
of  what  men  call  glory,  how  evanescent  they  are, 
and  how  unsatisfactory  while  they  continue !  What 
is  earthly  glory  ?  It  is  the  favor  of  the  fickle  mul 
titude,  the  transient  homage  of  the  hour,  the  ap 
plause  of  the  populace,  dying  away  with  the  breath 
that  fills  the  air  with  its  empty  clamor.  Oftentimes 
its  most  impressive  emblem  is  the  bloody  banner 
whose  tattered  folds  bear  mournful  evidence  of  the 
price  at  which  victory  is  won.  It  is  the  mouldering 
hatchment  which  hangs  above  the  tomb  of  the  dead 
warrior.  It  is  the  posthumous  renown  which  stirs 
not  one  sweet  emotion  in  the  heart  which  lies  still 
and  chill  in  the  coffin,  and  whose  music  never  pene 
trates  the  dull  cold  ear  of  death.  What  is  earthly 
glory  ?  Listen ;  "  All  flesh  is  as  grass,  and  all  the 
glory  of  man  as  the  flower  of  the  grass ;  the  grass 
withereth,  and  the  flower  thereof  falleth  away;" 
"  the  wind  passeth  over  it  and  it  is  gone." 

We  are  told  that  when  Massillon  pronounced  one 
of  those  wonderful  discourses  which  placed  him  in 
the  first  rank  of  pulpit  orators  he  found  himself  in 
a  church  surrounded  by  the  trappings  and  pageants 
of  a  royal  funeral.  The  church  was  not  only  hung 
with  black  drapery,  but  the  light  of  day  was  ex- 


184  BEMINISCENCES  OF  JEFFERSON  DAVIS. 

eluded,  and  only  a  few  dim  tapers  burned  on  the 
altar.  The  beauty  and  chivalry  of  the  land  were 
spread  out  before  him.  The  members  of  the  royal 
family  sat  beneath  him,  clothed  in  the  habiliments 
of  mourning.  There  was  silence — a  breathless  sus 
pense.  No  sound  broke  the  awful  stillness.  Mas- 
sillon  arose.  His  hands  were  folded  on  his  bosom ; 
his  eyes  were  lifted  to  heaven;  utterance  seemed 
impossible.  Presently  his  fixed  look  was  unbent, 
his  eye  roved  over  the  scene  where  every  pomp  was 
displayed,  where  every  trophy  was  exhibited.  That 
eye  found  no  resting  place  amid  all  this  idle  parade 
and  mocking  vanity.  At  length  it  settled  on  the 
bier  on  which  lay  dead  royalty,  covered  with  a  pall. 
A  sense  of  the  indescribable  nothingness  of  man  at 
his  best  estate,  overcame  him.  His  eyes  once  more 
closed ;  his  very  breath  seemed  suspended,  until,  in 
a  scarce  audible  voice,  he  startled  the  deep  silence 
with  the  words : 

"THERE  is  NOTHING  GREAT  BUT  GOD." 

To-day,  my  hearers,  we  are  warned  that  pallid 
death  knocks  with  impartial  hand  at  all  doors.  He 
enters,  with  equal  freedom,  the  dwelling  of  the 
humblest  citizen  and  the  mansion  of  senator,  sage 
and  chieftain.  He  lays  peasant  and  president  side 
by  side,  to  repose  in  the  silent,  all-summoning 
cemetery. 


MEMOEIAL  SERVICES.  185 

"  The  boast  of  heraldry,  the  pomp  of  power, 

And  all  that  beauty,  all  that  wealth  e'er  gave, 
Await  alike  the  inevitable  hour ; 

The  path  of  glory  leads  but  to  the  grave." 

There  is  nothing  great  but  God ;  there  is  nothing 
solemn  but  death ;  there  is  nothing  momentous  but 
judgment. 

Finally,  every  life  which  is  not  made  a  preparation 
for  the  eternal  future  is  a  comedy,  in  folly — a  tragedy, 
in  fact.  No  matter  how  splendid  its  success,  the 
life  itself  and  all  its  possessions  are  temporary. 
They  are  like  the  dissolving  views  of  the  panorama. 
Pietro  de  Medici  commanded  Michael  Angelo  to 
fashion  a  statue  of  snow.  Think  of  such  a  man 
spending  his  time  and  splendid  talents  in  shaping 
a  snow  image  !  But  men  who  devote  all  their  time 
and  talents  to  temporal  things,  no  matter  how 
noble,  are  modeling  and  moulding  with  snow.  "  He 
builds  too  low  who  builds  beneath  the  skies."  He 
who  expects  an  enduring  portion  from  anything 
lower  than  the  skies,  from  anything  less  stable  than 
the  heavens,  from  anything  less  sufficient  than  God, 
is  doomed  to  disappointment.  The  man  with  a 
mortal  body  inhabited  by  an  immortal  spirit,  drift 
ing  to  the  eternal  future  without  preparation  for  it, 
is  like  a  richly  freighted  ship  sailing  round  and 
round  on  an  open  sea,  bound  to  no  port,  and  which, 
by  and  by,  goes  down  in  darkness  and  storm. 


186  EEMINISCENCES  OF  JEFFERSON  DAVIS. 

Very  different  was  the  course  and  conduct  of  the 
man  for  whom  these  Southern   States   are   to-day 
paying  the  last  sad  rites  of  respect  and  affection. 
His  life  was  one  of  intense  occupation.     Much  of  it 
was  absorbed  with  exciting,  exacting,  earthly  du 
ties  ;  but  in  the  midst  of  the  pressure  and  distrac 
tion   to   which   he   was   subjected,  he   remembered 
what    time    was    made    for;  he   remembered    the 
endless   life   that  follows   this  transient  life.     Very 
beautiful   was   the   testimony  of  one   of  the   most 
eminent   of  our   Southern   statesmen,   whose    own 
departure  from  the  earth  was  both  a  tragedy  and 
a  triumph,  when  he  said :  "I  knew  Jefferson  Davis 
as  I  knew  few  men.     I  have  been  near  him  in  his 
public  duties ;  I  have  seen  him  by  his  private  fire 
side  ;  I  have  witnessed  his  humble,  Christian  devo 
tions,  and  I  challenge  history  when  I  say  no  people 
were   ever  led    through   a   stormy   struggle    by   a 
purer  patriot,  and   the  trials  of  public   life   never 
revealed  a  purer  or  more  beautiful  Christian  char 
acter." 

Oh !  great  is  the  contrast  between  the  hopes  and 
prospects  of  the  worldling  and  those  of  the  humble 
believer.  The  Duke  of  Marlborough,  in  his  last 
illness,  was  carried  to  an  apartment  which  con 
tained  a  picture  of  one  of  his  great  battles.  He 
gazed  at  it  awhile,  then  exclaimed :  "  Ah !  the 
Duke  was  something  then,  but  now  he  is  a  dying 


MEMORIAL  SERVICES.  187 

man."  The  Christian  is  something  when  he  is 
dying.  "  His  life  is  hid  with  Christ  in  God." 

The  closing  scenes  in  the  life  of  Mr.  Davis  were 
marked  by  fortitude,  by  the  gentle  courtesy  which 
never  forsook  him,  and,  above  all,  by  sublime 
though  simple  trust  in  the  all-sufficient  Saviour. 
While  the  outward  man  was  perishing,  the  inward 
man  was  renewed  day  by  day. 

As  the  sculptor  chips  off  the  fragments  of  mar 
ble  out  of  which  he  is  chiseling  a  statue,  the  de 
crease  of  the  marble  only  marks  the  development 
of  the  statue. 


"  The  more  the  marble 
The  more  the  statue  grows." 

So  it  is  with  the  spirit  preparing  to  take  its 
flight  from  the  decaying  vesture  of  the  flesh  to  the 
place  where  it  shall  be  both  clothed  and  crowned. 

Such  are  some  of  the  impressive  lessons  of  the 
hour,  and  if  duly  heeded,  this  solemnity,  instead 
of  being  a  mere  decorous  compliance  with  an  exe 
cutive  summons,  will  be  a  preparation  for  the  time 
when  we  shall  follow  our  departed  chief,  and  take 
our  places  among  those  who  nobly  fought  and 
grandly  triumphed.  And  then,  as  now,  will  we 
sing,  Glory  be  to  the  Father,  and  to  the  Son,  and 
to  the  Holy  Ghost.  As  it  was  in  the  beginning, 
is  now,  and  ever  shall  be,  world  without  end. 
Amen. 


EX  PRESIDENT  DAVIS  IN  TEXAS  IN  1875. 
BY  KX-GOVERNOR  F.  R.  WBBOCK, 

Who  accompanied  him  through  the  State. 

FROM  the  day  that  Mr.  Davis  was  released 
from  prison  by  the  United  States  Government 
the  people  of  Texas  were  solicitous  to  have 
him  pay  them  a  visit.  They  were  not  moved  by 
idle  curiosity ;  they  were  anxious  to  show  the  love 
and  respect  they  bore  him.  This  kindly  feeling 
and  respect  was  fully  reciprocated  by  him.  He 
knew  them  as  brave  soldiers  in  the  early  settlement 
of  the  republic ;  he  had  witnessed  their  gallantry  in 
the  war  between  the  United  States  and  Mexico,  and 
later,  in  the  war  between  the  States,  and  thus 
drawn  towards  them,  he  invariably  replied  to  their 
solicitations  that  as  soon  as  a  favorable  opportunity 
offered  he  would  visit  the  people  he  had  ever  held 
in  such  high  regard.  Finally,  in  May,  1875,  a 
committee  of  citizens  invited  him  to  visit  the  State 
during  the  fair  at  Houston.  The  following  charac 
teristic  reply  was  received : 

VICKSBURG,  Miss.,  5th  May,  1875. 
My  Dear  Sir:   I  am  engaged   here  on  a  matter 

of  much  importance  to  me,  and  of  no  little  com- 
188 


EX-PRESIDENT  DAVIS  IN  TEXAS  IN  1875.          189 

plexity.  If  it  is  possible  for  me  to  arrange  matters 
so  that  I  can  leave,  it  will  give  me  sincere  pleasure 
to  meet  the  good  people  of  Texas,  whose  kindness 
impresses  me  with  heartfelt  gratitude. 

As  heretofore,  I  am  compelled  to  say,  Do  not 
expect  me,  but  if  I  do  not  go,  the  regret  will  surely 
be  deeper  on  my  part  than  I  can  suppose  it  will  be 
on  that  of  others. 

As  ever,  truly  your  friend, 

JEFFERSON  DAVIS. 

COL.  F.  R.  LUBBOCK. 

He  came,  however,  on  a  very  short  notice  to  the 
committee.  He  was  received  at  Galveston  with 
marked  attention  and  respect,  although  he  arrived 
on  Sunday,  and  attended  divine  services  at  the 
Episcopal  Church  during  the  day. 

The  next  morning  he  proceeded  to  Houston.  The 
notice  of  his  coming  was  very  short,  but  thousands 
thronged  the  city  to  meet  their  illustrious  ex-Presi 
dent,  and  never  was  an  arrival  marked  by  stronger 
demonstrations  of  love  and  affection  from  a  people. 
His  address  at  the  fair  grounds  captured  his  hearers, 
old  and  young.  The  Association  of  Veterans  of  the 
Texas  Ke volution  were  present.  He  spoke  to  them 
specially,  and  the  old  men  grew  wild  at  his  magnifi 
cent  tribute  to  them,  as  he  enumerated  the  wonder 
ful  results  they  had  achieved  in  giving  to  the 
country  the  great  State  of  Texas. 


190  REMINISCENCES  OF  JEFFERSON  DAVIS. 

A  very  touching  incident  occurred  while  he  was 
still  in  that  city.  The  survivors  of  the  "Davis 
Guards,"  a  company  composed  entirely  of  Irishmen, 
desired  to  call  on  him  in  a  body.  He  accorded  to 
them  an  interview.  The  writer  of  this,  with  a  few 
other  citizens,  were  present.  It  was  a  scene  never 
to  be  forgotten.  He  made  them  a  short  speech,  in 
which  he  referred  to  their  brave  conduct  in  defence 
of  their  adopted  State.  That  gallant  band  of  warm 
hearts  and  strong  arms  each  and  every  one  shook 
the  hand  of  their  President,  as  they  called  him,  and 
not  a  dry  eye  was  there  among  all  those  sturdy  men 
as  they  parted  from  him.  This  company  of  forty- 
two  volunteers  is  mentioned  in  Davis'  "  Rise  and 
Fall  of  the  Confederate  States,"  vol.  i.,  p.  236-240, 
as  having  performed  one  of  the  greatest  feats  during 
the  entire  war,  resulting  in  saving  Texas  from  inva 
sion  and  probable  devastation. 

The  people  appeared  loath  to  part  with  him,  but 
he  had  to  journey  on.  In  passing  through  the 
country  to  Austin  at  every  town  and  station  the 
citizens  assembled  in  great  numbers,  and  as  he 
would  appear  upon  the  platform  of  the  car  in 
response  to  their  call,  great  cheering  and  hearty 
greetings  came  from  an  admiring  people.  The  train 
was  behind  time  in  reaching  Austin,  the  capital  of 
Texas.  It  was  raining,  but  men,  women  and  chil 
dren  stood  where  they  had  been  for  hours.  They 


EX-PKESIDENT  DAVIS  IN  TEXAS  IN  1875.  191 

had  improvised  torch-lights  and  waited  for  the  train 
that  they  might  obtain  a  glimpse  of  their  loved  chief. 
He  was  received  by  the  military  and  escorted  to  his. 
quarters,  where  he  was  met  by  the  Governor  of  the 
State  and  others. 

The  next  day  thousands  of  men,  women  and  chil 
dren  called  to  shake  his  hand  and  tell  him  how  they 
honored  and  loved  him.  While  at  the  seat  of  gov 
ernment  he  had  every  attention  that  could  be  shown 
him.  His  reception  in  Austin  will  never  be  forgot 
ten,  even  by  the  little  children  that  took  part  in  it. 

The  people  having  heard  of  his  coming,  his  trip 
from  Austin  to  Dallas  was  like  a  triumphal  proces 
sion  ;  never  before  or  since  has  such  an  outpouring 
of  the  people  been  seen  in  Texas. 

Arriving  at  Dallas  he  was  received  by  the  mili 
tary,  the  civic  associations  and  an  immense  con 
course  of  people,  and  his  stay  while  in  that  city  was 
one  continued  ovation.  Men,  women  and  children 
were  never  satisfied  until  they  had  an  opportunity 
of  seeing  their  honored  guest,  and  mothers  were 
proud  to  have  him  lay  his  hands  upon  their  children 
by  way  of  recognition. 

The  people  from  every  part  of  the  State  were 
sending  committees  for  him  to  visit  their  particular 
section  or  town.  He,  however,  found  it  necessary, 
from  constant  excitement  and  fatigue,  to  leave  for 
his  home  in  Memphis.  On  his  way  thither,  at  Mar- 


192  REMINISCENCES  OF  JEFFERSON  DAVIS. 

shall,  Texas,  he  was  accorded  the  same  hearty 
welcome  and  complimentary  attentions  that  had 
been  given  him  during  his  entire  journey  through 
the  country. 

In  fact,  he  was  entertained  and  honored  through 
out  the  State  more  like  a  victorious  general  passing 
through  the  country  on  a  triumphal  march  after 
winning  great  battles,  than  a  disfranchised  citizen, 
the  representative  of  a  lost  cause,  with  no  emolu 
ments  or  gifts  to  bestow,  nothing  being  left  to  him 
but  his  honor,  his  great  brain,  and  his  true  and 
noble  heart  beating  and  hoping  for  the  prosperity  of 
his  people. 

After  he  had  passed  the  borders  of  the  State  he 
was  quite  exhausted  from  his  extended  travel  and 
handshaking.  This  trip  made  a  lasting  impression 
upon  him.  He  loved  to  dwell  on  his  visit  to  the 
Lone  Star  State,  and  the  welcome  he  received  while 
there.  It  was  the  first  really  grand  ovation  that 
had  been  given  him  after  the  surrender  of  the  armies 
of  the  Confederate  States.  My  heart  beats  proudly 
when  I  think  my  State  should  be  the  first  to 
publicly  honor  a  man,  not  for  his  successes  and  the 
honors  he  had  to  bestow,  but  for  the  cause  he  repre 
sented  and  his  own  personal  worth. 

Moreover,  during  his  stay  with  us  offers  came 
from  various  localities  tendering  him  a  suitable  and 
comfortable  home  if  he  would  but  consent  to  remain 


EX-PEESIDENT  DAVIS  IN,  TEXAS  IN  1875.  193 

or  return  to  the  State.  These  offers  he  politely 
declined,  as  he  had  previously  those  of  the  same 
character  from  other  States. 

Of  late  years  he  had  many  pressing  invitations  to 
visit  Texas  again.  Circumstances  prevented  his 
coming. 

Now  never  again  will  we  have  the  honor  of  his 
presence.  We  have  draped  our  State  in  mourning 
and  tolled  our  bells,  and  pronounced  thousands  of 
funeral  orations,  and  laid  away,  amid  our  tears,  what 
is  mortal  of  him.  His  burning  words  of  wisdom, 
his  admirable  example,  his  noble  deeds,  all  are  im 
mortal,  and  will  abide  with  us  forever. 
13 


REMINISCENCE. 


BY  GENKRAI,  A.    R. 
Ex-Minister  to  Russia  and  Quartermaster-General  of  the  Confederate  Army. 

DISABILITIES  and  hindrances  beyond  my  con 
trol  have  prevented  me  from  responding  favor 

ably  to  a  flattering  request  by  the  editors  and 
publishers  to  prepare  an  article  for  the  "  Life  and 
Reminiscences  of  Jefferson  Davis."  But  now  that  I 
am  kindly  urged  to  do  so,  I  cannot  refrain  from  the 
attempt,  at  the  last  moment,  to  pay  a  short  tribute 
to  one  I  so  honored  and  loved  while  living,  that  I 
cling  to  the  memory  of  his  virtues  and  his  services, 
now  that  he  is  in  his  grave. 

Perhaps  I  can  best  serve  the  cause  of  truth  and 
justice  by  a  plain,  unvarnished  statement  of  some 
things  which  I  had  exceptionally  good  opportuni 
ties  to  observe,  as  to  the  ability,  character,  conduct 
and  temper  of  Mr.  Davis,  especially  as  they  affect 
official  people  and  public  affairs. 

My  first  acquaintance  with  Mr.  Davis  was  in  the 
summer  of  1854,  when  he  was  Secretary  of  War. 
I  was  sent  to  Washington,  with  the  Mayor  of  Sa 
vannah,  to  secure  the  use  of  Oglethorpe  Barracks 
for  the  police  force  of  the  city.  We  were  warned 
that  our  mission  would  probably  be  fruitless,  but  it 

194 


JEFF.ERSON  DAVIS  AND  THE  CONFEDERATE  GENERALS. 


PLAIN  STATEMENT.  195 

proved  entirely  successful;  and  Savannah  had  the 
use  of  the  Barracks  for  a  number  of  years,  to  the 
mutual  benefit  of  the  United  States  Government 
and  the  city.  The  prompt  and  practical  manner  in 
which  this  applicatipn  was  treated  by  the  Secretary 
of  War,  all  minor  impediments  being  brushed  aside, 
while  the  utmost  care  was  taken  to  fully  protect  the 
interests  of  the  Government,  made  on  me  a  deep 
impression,  which  has  survived  to  this  day.  Later 
on  in  that  summer  Mr.  Davis  accompanied  President 
Pierce  to  the  mountains  of  Virginia,  where  I  hap 
pened  then  to  be.  The  short  official  interviews  at 
Washington  were  there  followed  by  less  restrained 
social  intercourse,  which  proved  to  be  most  interest 
ing  and  instructive.  The  extent  and  accuracy  of  his 
knowledge  of  men  and  things,  and  his  exceptional 
capacity  for  imparting  information  in  familiar,  yet 
beautiful  language,  increased  and  completed  the  im 
pression  made  on  me  in  Washington.  Naturally,  I 
then  became  much  interested  in  his  public  career. 
I  met  him  again,  casually,  at  the  house  of  a  friend, 
in  the  State  of  New  York,  where  he  had  gone  on 
public  business,  in  the  early  autumn  of  1860.  Ex 
cept  in  this  instance,  I  did  not  see  Mr.  Davis  until 
June,  1862,  when  I  passed  through  Kichmond  on 
my  way  from  the  coast  of  Georgia,  to  join  Stone 
wall  Jackson's  command  in  the  Valley.  He  had 
then  been  for  more  than  a  year  the  diligent,  toiling, 


196  REMINISCENCES  OF  JEFFERSON  DAVIS. 

faithful,  President  of  the  new  Confederacy.  Labor, 
responsibility  and  care  had  already  made  their 
mark  upon  him,  and  seriously  impaired  his  health. 
Yet,  still  a  splendid  horseman,  as  he  rode  along  the 
lines  around  Richmond,  visiting  the  various  points 
of  military  interest,  he  was  a  figure  not  to  be  forgot 
ten.  Nor  less  did  he  impress  me  in  the  bosom  of 
his  family,  the  tender  husband  and  father,  the  re 
fined  gentleman,  the  courteous  and  kindly  friend. 

The  exigencies  of  that  terrible  and  glorious  cam 
paign  of  1862,  and  its  results  to  myself,  prevented 
my  seeing  the  President  again  for  nearly  a  year, 
when  I  reached  Richmond  to  report  once  more  for 
active  service  in  the  field.  But  I  found  that  the 
President  had  determined  to  assign  me  to  duty  as 
Quartermaster-General.  I  was  thus  detained  in 
Richmond,  and  brought  into  close  official  relations 
with  the  Executive  Department  of  the  Government. 
It  would  be  too  personal  to  discuss  here  the  feelings 
of  hesitation,  reluctance  and  anxiety  with  which  I 
finally  accepted  so  grave  a  trust.  Suffice  it  to  say, 
that  for  some  time  previous,  and  until  the  final  over 
throw  of  the  Confederacy,  the  all-absorbing  prob 
lems  to  be  solved  were  field  and  railway  transporta 
tion,  and  supplies  for  the  Army — the  first  under  the 
exclusive  control  of  the  Quartermaster's  Department 
— and  the  same  department,  in  much  larger  measure 
than  all  others  combined,  responsible  for  the  latter. 


PLAIN  STATEMENT.  197 

With  no  rolling-mills  nor  locomotive  works  to  re 
plenish  dilapidated  railways,  while  armies  in  the 
field  were  hundreds  of  miles  distant  from  the 
sources  of  supply — every  part  of  our  territory  spe 
cially  devoted  to  the  raising  of  grain,  wool,  cattle 
and  horses,  either  laid  waste  or  in  possession  of  the 
enemy — how  were  we  to  feed,  clothe  and  transport 
our  armies,  and  furnish  horses  and  forage  for 
wagon  trains,  cavalry  and  artillery  ?  The  thorough 
comprehension  of  the  situation  by  Mr.  Davis  im 
pressed  me  forcibly  on  our  first  interviews  in  this 
new  relation.  And  while  he  had  most  distinct  and 
eminently  wise  views  as  to  the  proper  division  of  re 
sponsibility  everywhere,  and  was  slow  to  trench 
upon  the  functions  of  any  other  official,  he  never 
forgot  that  by  far  the  largest  share  of  that  responsi 
bility  rose  up  from  every  inferior  in  grade,  and  ad 
hered  finally  to  the  superior  of  all. 

This  dependence  on  the  Quartermaster-General  for 
the  essentials  of  transportation  and  supplies  neces 
sarily  caused  the  President  often  to  summon  him  to 
his  presence,  or  to  accomplish  the  interview  through 
General  Lee.  Take  an  example,  which  is  itself  of 
absorbing  interest :  The  battle  of  Chickamauga  was 
imminent.  General  Lee  was  appealed  to  to  send 
Longstreet's  entire  corps,  horses  and  artillery  from 
the  Eapidan  all  the  way  to  the  shadow  of  Lookout 
Mountain,  to  reinforce  General  Bragg.  Everything 


198  .REMINISCENCES  OF  JEFFERSON  DAVIS. 

turned  on  the  question  of  transportation  and  supply, 
and  all  had  to  be  decided  and  performed  with  tele 
graphic  Jiaste.  If  this  corps  could  reach  Bragg  in 
time  for  the  impending  battle,  he  might  expect  suc 
cess  ;  and  General  Lee  ought,  in  that  case,  to  detach 
and  risk  the  absence  of  this  important  part  of  his 
army.  But  if  Longstreet  should  reach  Bragg  too 
late  to  take  part  in  the  fight,  and  General  Lee's 
strength  diminished  to  that  fearful  extent,  it  might 
imperil  the  existence  of  both  armies,  and  expose  our 
weakness  everywhere.  The  Quartermaster-General 
must  say  when  Longstreet' s  corps  could  be  delivered 
at  Chickamauga.  The  time  was  named,  and  I 
tremble  now  as  I  recall  the  responsibility  which  that 
reply  involved !  The  first  detachment  arrived  in 
Richmond  from  the  Rapidan  the  day  after  this  inter 
view  at  once  filled  all  the  trains  in  sight,  then  an 
other,  and  another — and  Longstreet  joined  Bragg 
almost  at  the  moment  when  the  firing  commenced ! 
The  result  is  known. 

Whenever  complaint  was  made  to  the  President 
by  any  commander,  either  in  the  field  or  of  a  mili 
tary  department,  or  by  a  member  of  Congress  resi 
dent  therein,  that  the  supply  of  clothing,  horses, 
forage,  field  or  railway  trains  belonging  to  that 
army  or  department  was  inadequate,  or  less  in  pro 
portion  than  elsewhere,  before  the  President  would 
make  any  response  he  promptly  summoned  the 


PLAIN  STATEMENT.  199 

Quartermaster-General,  to  learn  from  him  the  facts 
— obtained,  if  possible,  the  figures,  and  based  his  re 
ply  thereon.  These  details  are  given  to  show  the 
great  care  of  Mr.  Davis  to  be  informed  before  acting, 
and,  while  not  avoiding  any  responsibility  himself  to 
call  to  his  aid  the  chief  of  every  department,  and 
fix  that  responsibility  where  the  evil  could,  if  possi 
ble,  be  arrested  or  corrected.  And  further,  I  wish 
to  show,  at  the  risk  of  seeming  egotism,  what  oppor 
tunity,  yea,  what  necessity  there  was  for  me  to  know 
that  of  which  I  speak.  Believing  that  I  am  without 
excuse,  if  mistaken,  I  do  not  hesitate  to  say,  that  in 
every  instance  of  the  nature  here  referred  to  (and  I 
must  refrain  from  further  details)  I  never  saw  or 
heard  anything,  in  manner  or  speech,  that  exhibited 
either  undue  temper  or  ill  will  against  any  officer  or 
servant  of  the  Confederate  States.  But  the  action 
or  inaction  of  each  was  discussed  entirely  with  ref 
erence  to  its  effect  on  the  result  and  the  "  cause." 
On  some  of  these  occasions  Mr.  Davis  was  suffering 
torture  from  physical  maladies,  and  could  not  sit  at 
ease  a  moment. 

His  thorough  and  accurate  acquaintance  with  all 
that  was  transpiring  within  the  Confederate  States, 
and  his  familiarity  with  all  obtainable  knowledge  of 
things  outside  that  affected  our  cause,  was  a  con 
stant  surprise  to  those  brought  into  immediate  con 
tact  with  him.  Not  less  conspicuous  was  his  readi- 


200  EEMINISCENCES  OF  JEFFERSON  DAVIS. 

ness  for  self-sacrifice,  and  his  unwillingness  to  con 
demn,  or  even  harshly  to  criticise  others,  until  full 
information  was  obtained  as  to  where  the  blame 
should  rest.  These  qualities  were,  in  part,  the 
source  of  the  reproaches  so  frequently  brought 
against  him,  that  he  adhered  to  his  friends  at  the  ex 
pense  of  the  public  interest,  and  upheld  them 
against  the  general  clamor  of  adverse  opinion. 
This  holding  fast  to  personal  friendships,  and  giving 
countenance  where  it  is  most  needed,  may  become  a 
serious  fault  in  a  public  man  of  high  position  and 
great  power.  But  it  is  in  itself  such  a  beautiful 
virtue,  or  such  a  noble  failing,  as  you  may  prefer  to 
characterize  it,  that  who  of  us,  with  generous  in 
stincts,  does  not  love  and  admire  it?  Those  who 
looked  into  the  depths  of  his  human  soul  loved  him 
for  these  very  traits !  The  longer  I  live  the  more  I 
prize  the  name  of  friendship,  which  waits  and  seeks 
for  opportunity  to  serve,  and  steps  gladly  to  the 
front  when  needed,  even  though  not  summoned ! 

To  my  mind,  the  most  difficult  and  painful  part 
which  Mr.  Davis  had  to  enact  was  forced  on  him 
after  hostilities  had  ceased,  by  his  long  and  severe 
imprisonment,  and  then  his  retirement  from  all  par 
ticipation  in  active  affairs  during  the  remainder  of 
his  life.  A  man  of  great  pride,  indomitable  indus 
try  and  energy,  and  of  a  temper  naturally  quick  and 
strong,  though  controlled,  he  felt — oh !  how  nobly — 


PLAIN  STATEMENT.  201 

% 

amid  his  constant  physical  sufferings,  the  responsi 
bility  of  so  bearing  himself  as  to  bring  no  reproach 
on  the  lost  cause ;  coming  to  the  front  only  on  rare 
occasions,  when  attacks  upon  this  cause,  and  the 
earnest  desire  of  his  fellow  Confederates,  did  not 
permit  him  to  remain  silent.  How  well  he  bore 
himself  on  these  occasions  let  his  record  attest ! 

In  connection  with  his  wonderful  powers  of  utter 
ance,  and  perfect  mastery  of  the  English  language, 
I  recall  with  sincere  pleasure  an  inquiry  about  Mr. 
Davis,  made  by  Lord  Kosebery  while  on  a  visit  to 
the  United  States  many  years  since ;  and  the  desire 
expressed  to  make  his  personal  acquaintance.  His 
Lordship  remarked  that  Mr.  Davis  delivered  his  in 
augural  at  Montgomery,  when  he  (Rosebery)  was  a 
youth,  about  leaving  Eton  College.  The  elegant 
style  and  high  tone  of  the  address  so  fired  his  youth 
ful  admiration  that  he  followed  it  up  by  reading 
carefully  every  State  paper  from  that  source  as  soon 
as  published.  He  said  there  was  nothing  finer  in  all 
the  records  of  State  papers  than  these  messages  and 
proclamations.  When  I  asked  him  if  his  curiosity 
had  led  him  to  look  at  these  papers  in  more  mature 
years,  he  replied  with  emphasis,  "The  re-perusal 
has  more  than  confirmed  the  impressions  and  ad 
miration  of  my  younger  days." 

As  I  only  undertake  to  give  the  result  of  such 
desultory  observations  as  I  was  permitted  personally 
to  make,  I  will  add  but  one  more  incident. 


202  KEMINISCENCES  OF  JEFFEKSON  DAVIS. 

On  my  first  visit  to  the  North  on  business,  after 
the  war,  in  the  spring  of  1866,  I  had  the  pleasure  to 
meet  Mrs.  Davis  on  the  train  from  New  York  to 
Washington,  availing  herself  of  the  first  permit  to 
visit  her  husband  in  his  prison  at  Fortress  Monroe. 
At  her  request  1  stopped  over  a  day  in  Washington, 
to  confer  with  two  or  three  public  men,  and  see 
whether  there  could  not  be  some  mitigation  of  his 
prison  life.  To  my  surprise,  one  of  the  names  she 
gave  me  (whom  she  thought  would  be  willing  to 
further  her  wishes)  was  the  Senator  from  Massachu 
setts,  General  Wilson,  afterwards  Yice-President  of 
the  United  States.  I  approached  him  with  marked 
embarrassment,  but  he  soon  made  one  feel  at  ease. 
"  I  have,"  he  said,  "  very  great  respect  for  Jefferson 
Davis,  having  served  with  him  in  the  Senate  and  on 
the  Military  Committee  of  that  body.  He  is  an 
able,  courageous  and  conscientious  man  ;  and  though 
I  think  he  was  wrong  in  some  important  things,  I 
am  sure  he  was  as  honest  in  his  convictions  as  I 
was.  While  I  insist  on  the  political  results  of  the 
war,  I  am  utterly  opposed  to  all  such  personal  pun 
ishments.  If  I  can  do  anything  to  mitigate  his 
situation,  you  can  rely  on  me.  But  I  fear  those  in 
executive  authority  do  not  agree  with  me."  Many 
years  elapsed  before  I  had  an  opportunity  to  men 
tion  this  interview  to  Mr.  Davis,  and  General  Wil 
son  had  then  long  been  dead.  With  much  feeling 


PLAIN  STATEMENT.  ,203 

he  said :  "  1  knew  "Wilson  well — his  honesty  and 
frankness — and  am  not  at  all  surprised  at  what  he 
felt,  and  said  to  you.'* 

His  last  utterance  in  print  was  a  reply  to  Lord 
Wolseley's  harsh  and  unjust  strictures  upon  himself 
in  the  North  American  Review ;  and  there  it  was 
shown  that  the  weight  of  all  his  troubles  and  af 
flictions,  and  of  his  more  than  four-score  years,  had 
not  dimmed  his  intellect,  nor  diminished  his  power 
to  marshal  the  facts  of  history  and  rebuke  the 
wrong. 

I  must  close,  though  the  debt  I  owe  to  our  great 
chief  is  not  paid.  It  never  can  be.  For  my  opin 
ion  is  not  newly  formed,  but  has  been  long  and  per 
sistently  maintained,  that  his  abilities  were  of  the 
highest  order,  his  career  without  spot  or  blemish, 
even  to  the  day  of  his  death ;  and  that  he  illus 
trated  to  the  full  extent  the  finest  traits  of  the  South 
ern  Christian  gentleman,  the  accomplished  and  ever 
faithful  public  servant. 


JEFFERSON  DAVIS  AS  I  KNEW  HIM. 

BY   HON.    REUBEN   DAVIS. 

"  Wherefore  I  shall  not  fatigue  myself  to  seek  that  which  is  impossible 
to  find,  and  I  shall  not  consume  my  life  in  flattering  myself  with  the  vain 
hope  of  seeing  a  man  without  blame  among  us  mortals,  who  live  upon  what 
the  earth  presents  to  us." 

"  Now  Esteem  is  a  sincere  homage,  which  causes  a  soul  to  be  sincerely 
touched  and  affected ;  whereas  Praise  is  frequently  but  a  vain  and  deceitful 
sound."  PLATO. 

JEFFERSON  DAVIS  was  a  man  whose  high 
tl  fortune  it  had  heen  to  deserve  in  full  measure 
that  esteem  declared  by  the  greatest  philoso 
pher  to  be  the  worthiest  tribute  a  man  may  receive 
from  his  fellow  men.  On  the  other  hand,  it  has 
been  his  misfortune  to  have  heaped  upon  him  that 
ill-considered  and  undiscriminating  praise  condemned 
by  the  same  great  mind  as  an  insult  to  the  common 
sense  of  the  living,  and  an  offence  against  the 
majesty  of  the  noble  dead.  Our  hearts  revolt 
against  such  homage,  as  though  one  should  seek  to 
enbalm  the  royal  dead  with  cheap  spices  and  per 
fumes,  instead  of  breaking  above  the  sacred  body 
that  rich  casket  of  ointment,  chrism,  consecrated  to 
heroes  and  princes  among  men,  because  distilled 
only  from  immortal  plants — those  "  actions  of  the 

just,  which  smell  sweet,  and  blossom  in  the  dust." 
204 


JEFFEKSON  DAVIS  AS  I  KNEW  HIM.  205 

For  my  part,  in  beginning  some  slight  memorial 
of  the  noble  gentleman  whom  I  have  regarded  with 
esteem,  admiration  and  affection  for  fifty  years,  and 
whose  death  comes  to  Southern  men  of  my  genera 
tion  as  the  rending  of  ties  close  and  strong,  I  hold 
that  I  reverence  him  but  by  simple  truth.  He  had 
splendid  and  lofty  qualities  enough,  not  only  to 
atone  for  some  defects  of  character  and  temperament, 
but,  so  to  speak,  to  make  those  defects  a  necessary 
part  of  his  individuality. 

What  sort  of  friendship  is  that  which  plays  tricks 
with  a  man's  memory,  making  paltry  excuses  here, 
or  paltry  denials  there?  To  be  perfectly  loyal,  a 
man  must  love  his  friend,  faults  and  all,  scorning  to 
paint  him  otherwise  than  as  God  made  him. 

There  is  nothing  in  all  nature  more  certain  than 
the  great  law  of  limitation,  which  holds  all  men  in 
bondage,  and,  by  which,  an  excess  of  any  one  power 
or  quality,  presupposes  a  corresponding  deficiency  in 
the  opposite  direction.  And  it  is  the  men  born  with 
these  abnormal  forces  who  become  the  leaders  of 
nations.  It  is  such  men  who  compel  the  respect  and 
admiration  of  honest  men,  whatever  may  be  their 
differences  of  opinion,  or  however  bitterly  they  may 
be  opposed  to  each  other. 

That  Jefferson  Davis  was  such  a  man  was  proved 
by  the  almost  universal  tribute  of  the  public  press — 
that  great  voice  which  can  be  surely  trusted  to  utter 


206  REMINISCENCES  OF  JEFFERSON  DAVIS. 

all  that  is  best,  deepest  and  truest  in  popular  thought 
and  sentiment.     I  speak  now  not  so  much  of  the 
warm  outpouring  of  natural  Southern  emotion,  but 
of  the  calmer  verdict  of  those  who  had  been  his  ene 
mies,  who  still  abhorred  the  creed  to  which  he  died 
steadfast,  but  who  honored  themselves  in  giving  him 
due  honor.     In  one  of  these  articles,  written  in  no 
unkindly  spirit,  I  am  sure — the  editor  spoke  uncon 
sciously  a   proud   word   for   the    South.     He    said : 
"  The  South  gives  itself  up  to  passionate  lamentation 
for    Jefferson    Davis,    not   knowing,    perhaps,    how 
much  more  of  pride  than  of  grief  is  behind  their 
emotion."      We  accept   this   without  question,  and 
glory  in  the  knowledge  that  when  a  whole  people 
knelt  by  the  bier  of  the  man  whom  the  South  de 
lighted  to   honor,  a   grief  untainted   by  shame  or 
dishonor  filled  their  hearts. 

When  a  man  lives  to  extreme  old  age,  there  can  be 
only  a  narrow  circle  in  which  his  loss  is  keenly  felt 
as  a  personal  sorrow,  and  very  few  whose  lives  are 
changed  by  his  going  away.  Of  those  who  live  now, 
few  remember  Jefferson  Davis  in  his  prime,  scarcely 
any  in  his  early  youth.  I  do  not  know  if  there  is 
a  single  survivor  of  the  class  who  were  his  comrades 
at  West  Point,  or  of  those  who  shared  with  him  the 
adventures  and  dangers  of  the  Black  Hawk  War. 
That  he  distinguished  himself  from  the  beginning  of 
his  career  as  a  student  and  soldier,  is  well  known. 


JEFFERSON  DAVIS  AS  I  KNEW  HIM.  207 

While  still  a  very  young  man,  fate  dealt  him  a 
cruel  blow,  which  changed  the  current  of  his  life  at 
the  time,  and,  by  so  doing,  altered  the  whole  course 
of  his  future.  His  young  wife,  to  whom  he  was 
devotedly  attached,  died  a  few  months  after  mar 
riage,  and  he  mourned  for  her  as  a  man  mourns  for 
the  love  of  his  youth.  Withdrawing  himself  from 
his  accustomed  pursuits  and  associations,  he  retired 
to  his  estate  at  Brierfield,  where  he  lived  for  ten 
years  in  great  seclusion.  These  ten  years  were 
devoted  to  patient  study,  and  it  is  no  doubt  to  this 
prolongation  of  his  student  life  that  he  owed  the 
ripeness  of  his  knowledge,  and  the  polished  beauty 
of  his  style,  both  in  speaking  and  writing.  The 
course  of  study  adopted  by  him,  and  his  'unwearied 
investigation  of  all  questions  appertaining  to  human 
life  and  the  science  of  government,  fitted  him  to 
adorn  the  high  places  he  was  destined  to  fill. 

One  defect  in  his  mental  structure — the  too  minute 
attention  to  detail  and  form — had  been  hardened 
into  a  fixed  habit  by  his  military  training.  Had  his 
destiny  led  him  to  rulership  in  a  settled  and  power 
ful  government,  ruled  by  precedent,  and  requiring 
only  a  firm,  strong  hand  to  guide,  and  a  polished 
intellect  to  adorn,  this  training  would  have  been 
admirable.  A  revolution  calls  for  different  qualities, 
and  a  man  less  great  than  Jefferson  Davis  might 
have  possessed  an  order  of  talent  far  more  effective 


208  KEMINISCENCES  OF  JEFFERSON  DAVIS. 

in  great  emergencies.  Gifted  with  some  of  the 
highest  attributes  of  a  statesman,  he  lacked  the 
pliancy  which  enables  a  man  to  adapt  his  measures 
to  the  crises.  His  determination  was  fixed  to  bend 
the  crises  to  his  measures. 

In  1843  an  important  issue  claimed  the  attention 
of  our  people.  This  was  the  repudiation  of  the 
Union  Bank  bonds.  As  this  question  was  one  of 
great  importance,  touching  the  credit  and  honor  of 
the  whole  State,  it  brought  out  the  ablest  men  both 
for  and  against  it.  Some  of  those  friends  who  knew 
Jefferson  Davis  intimately,  and  who  recognized  his 
wonderful  powers  of  persuasive  logic,  determined  to 
bring  him  out  of  his  long  retirement  at  a  crisis  when 
he  could  make  a  brilliant  entrance  into  public  action. 
They  selected  an  adversary  with  whom  few  untried 
orators  would  have  dared  to  measure  themselves — 
the  renowned  L.  L.  Prentiss.  The  discussion  lasted 
for  two  days,  and  was  probably  never  surpassed  in 
the  force  and  beauty  of  the  speeches.  It  was 
claimed  that  Mr.  Davis  came  off  victor.  He  was, 
without  doubt,  far  superior  to  Mr.  Prentiss  as  a 
debater,  and  scarcely  less  fascinating  in  style  and 
manner  of  speaking. 

It  was  not  until  the  summer  of  1844  that  I  had 
the  honor  of  a  personal  acquaintance  with  Mr. 
Davis,  though  I  had  before  that  time  regarded  him 
with  admiration  as  one  of  the  most  gifted  young 


JEFFEKSON  DAVIS  AS  I  KNEW  HIM.  209 

men  of  the  South.  At  a  meeting  of  the  Democratic 
Convention  to  appoint  electors,  Mr.  Davis  had  made 
a  speech  so  brilliant  and  convincing  that,  upon  its 
conclusion,  the  whole  body  had  risen,  and  nominated 
him  by  acclamation  for  district  elector.  General 
Harry  S.  Foote  had  been  nominated  elector  for  the 
State  at  large.  Davis  and  Foote  traveled  together 
and  made  joint  speeches. 

I  had  been  invited  to  attend  a  barbecue  at  Davis' 
Mill,  on  the  line  dividing  Tennessee  and  Mississippi, 
and  the  day  before,  reached  Holly  Springs  in  time  to 
hear  the  discussion.  It  was  there  that  I  first  heard 
Mr.  Davis  speak,  and  was  captivated  by  his  lucid 
argument  and  delightful  oratory.  I  do  not  think  that 
I  ever  listened  to  any  man  with  more  pleasure  and 
admiration,  and,  I  may  say  here,  that  his  speeches 
always  impressed  me  in  the  same  manner,  even  when, 
as  afterwards  happened,  I  was  unable  to  adopt  his 
side  of  the  matter  under  discussion.  At  that  time, 
however,  there  was  no  discord  in  our  opinions,  and 
I  recall  as  among  the  most  agreeable  recollections 
of  that  by-gone  time,  our  subsequent  journey  to 
Aberdeen,  where  Davis  and  Foote  were  to  attend  a 
great  barbecue,  and  to  be  my  guests  for  some  days. 

Everywhere  they  went  they  were  received  with 
enthusiasm,  and  from  that  canvass  may  be  dated 
the  ascendency  which  Mr.  Davis  began  to  hold  over 

the  popular  mind  and  heart  of  Mississippi..    He  was 
14 


210  REMINISCENCES  OF  JEFFEESON  DAVIS. 

elected  to  Congress,  but  resigned  when  chosen 
Colonel  of  the  First  Mississippi  Regiment  of  Volun 
teers  for  the  Mexican  War.  His  regiment  was 
made  up  of  the  best  material  in  the  State,  and 'well 
officered.  At  first  the  men  resented  the  strict  disci 
pline  their  colonel  was  wise  enough  to  enforce,  and  for 
a  time  he  was  somewhat  unpopular  in  consequence. 
Afterwards  they  realized  the  advantages  of  this 
severity,  and,  having  found  their  leader  as  fearless 
in  action  as  he  was  resolute  in  discipline,  they 
almost  idolized  him. 

Nothing  could  have  been  finer  than  the  handling 
of  that  regiment  in  the  battle  of  Buena  Vista — nor 
more  heroic  than  the  personal  courage  of  Colonel 
Davis.  Although  painfully  wounded  early  in  the 
morning,  he  continued  his  duty  as  if  unhurt,  even 
when  urged  by  General  Taylor  himself  to  leave  the 
field.  His  reply  was  noble  and  characteristic  :  "  My 
men  are  full  of  spirit  and  courage,  but  there  might  be 
some  mistake,  under  which  they  might  falter,  and 
so  lose  the  day.  I  will  stay  with  them  till  the  fight 
is  over."  He  had  that  high  sense  of  duty  which 
yielded  to  no  pain  of  body  or  personal  pride. 

When  he  returned  to  Mississippi  on  crutches  he 
was  received  with  that  enthusiasm  which  his  great 
services  so  well  merited.  I  do  not  think  there  was 
ever  a  time  after  that  when  he  did  not  stand  first  in 
the  hearts  of  Mississippians. 


JEFFERSON  DAVIS  AS  I  KNEW  HIM.  211 

Very  early  in  the  movement  toward  secession,  he 
was  recognized  as  one  of  the  leaders  of  the  Disunion 
party.  Believing  as  he  did,  first  and  last  in  the 
absolute  sovereignty  of  the  States,  he  never  altered 
his  policy,  or  the  conviction  that  secession  was  the 
only  safety  and  duty  of  the  South.  I  do  not  believe 
that  personal  ambition  had  any  conscious  share  in 
determining  his  action  during  this  time,  though  he 
must  have  known  that,  should  a  new  government  be 
formed,  he  would  certainly  be  chosen  to  fill  the  high 
est  place  in  it.  That  a  man  of  his  ambition,  and 
just  confidence  in  his  ability,  and  in  the  affection 
and  admiration  of  the  Southern  people,  could  have 
been  contented  with  a  subordinate  place  in  a  revo 
lution  which  he  was  so  active  in  bringing  about,  was 
not  to  be  expected. 

But  that  he  was  sincerely  devoted  to  the  cause 
for  which  he  fought,  and  that  he  believed  in  the 
principles  of  that  cause  with  all  the  force  of  a  mind 
clear  in  its  convictions,  and  a  character  tenacious 
even  to  obstinacy  in  its  determinations,  cannot  be 
doubted.  His  was  essentially  a  strong  and  forceful 
nature,  and  he  possessed  the  grand  quality  of  stead 
fastness  in  its  fullest  measure. 

Resenting  opposition  with  the  unalterable  resent 
ment  of  a  reserved,  proud  and  self-centred  nature, 
it  was  not  a  possibility  with  him  to  recognize  the 
justice  of  such  opposition,  even  when  proved  by  the 


212  REMINISCENCES  OF  JEFFERSON  DAVIS. 

fatal  results  of  a  contrary  policy,  From  this  char 
acteristic,  it  followed  almost  necessarily  that  he  was 
sometimes  obstinate  in  measures  which  afterward 
proved  disastrous  to  the  cause  to  which  his  whole 
heart  was  devoted;  and  that  his  prejudice  for  and 
against  certain  men,  led  to  grave  errors  in  selection 
for,  and  exclusion  from,  places  of  trust. 

It  is  idle  now  to  question  how  far  the  result  could 
have  heen  changed  by  a  different  policy,  or  whether 
the  great  game  of  war  and  politics  could  have  been  so 
played  as  to  give  victory  to  the  South  ;  worse  than 
idle  for  even  those  who  would  then  have  died  for  the 
cause,  no  longer  regret  thai  it  is  a  lost  one.  Still  it 
cannot  be  denied  that  our  whole  policy  was  from  the 
first  fatal  to  all  hope  of  success.  Only  the  splendid 
courage  of  our  soldiers,  and  the  skill  of  a  few  of  our 
commanders,  could  have  prolonged  the  struggle 
through  four  wretched  years.  Of  those  years,  I 
confess  I  cannot  bring  myself  to  write.  It  is  like  a 
nightmare  to  recall  the  bitter  days  when,  as  it 
seemed  to  me,  thousands  of  lives  were  sacrificed, 
untold  miseries  endured,  and  the  self-devotion  of  our 
people  poured  out  in  vain.  The  result  which  was 
accepted  a  quarter  of  a  century  ago  as  a  woful 
necessity,  has  gradually  evolved  itself  into  a  national 
gain.  There  are  few  men  in  the  new  South,  who 
are  not  glad  of  our  undivided  nationality.  The 
bitterness  is  that  we  blundered  so  fearfully ;  that  we 


JEFFERSON  DAVIS  AS  I  KNEW  HIM.  213 

threw  away  so  many  chances,  and  that  our  struggle, 
noble  as  it  was,  was  embittered  by  so  many  ignoble 
jealousies,  and  frustrated  by  so  many  unworthy 
enmities. 

It  was  the  strength  as  well  as  the  weakness  of 
Jefferson  Davis,  that  to  the  last  he  could  not  see 
this.  Unbending  in  his  conviction,  he  was  sustained 
through  defeat,  captivity,  and  the  long  years  of 
enforced  inaction,  by  the  serene  approval  of  his 
mind  and  conscience.  He  believed  that  the  cause 
for  which  he  had  toiled  and  suffered,  was  just  and 
holy,  and  that  the  measures  adopted  to  sustain  it 
were  the  best  which  could  have  been  devised  under 
the  circumstances. 

To  my  mind,  this  heroic  and  good  man  makes  a 
noble  picture,  with  the  ruins  of  his  life's  work  all 
around  him,  and  "  all  but  his  faith  overthrown." 

That  a  man  should  be  right  always  is  impossible — 
it  is  an  impertinence  to  expect  it  of  poor  humanity. 
When  he  has  the  strength  to  venture  all  for  a  high 
vision,  however  mistaken,  to  live  through  slow  years 
of  defeat  and  failure,  and  die,  holding  fast  his  in 
tegrity,  the  world  can  give  us  no  grander  spectacle. 

As  the  world  is  constituted,  there  is  a  vulgarizing 
element  in  success,  with  its  blatant  triumph  and 
sordid  following.  Always,  in  History  or  Poem,  it  is 
the  good  man,  steadfast  against  adverse  fortune,  who 
claims  the  homage  of  all  hearts. 


RECOLLECTIONS    AND    TRIBUTE. 

BY  HON.    GEORGE  DAVIS, 
Member  of  Mr.  Davis'  Cabinet. 

"  T  HAVE  said  ye  are  gods,  and  all  of  you   are 
J_     children  of  the  Most  High.     But  ye  shall  die 

like  men,  and  fall  like  one  of  the  princes." 
Jefferson  Davis  is  dead.  A  prince  has  fallen — 
a  true  prince  in  all  that  most  ennobles  our  man 
hood.  To  die  in  the  purple  of  power  and  state, 
to  fall  in  the  rush  of  battle,  where  cannons  are 
roaring  and  bayonets  are  flashing,  to  sink  in  the 
arms  of  victory,  to  end  in  the  glare  and  dazzle  of 
proud  achievements — chieftain  and  soldier  as  he 
Was — these  things  were  not  for  him. 

After  long  years  of  toil  and  anxiety,  of  strife 
and  bitterness,  of  struggle  and  failure,  of  hatred 
and  insult  and  slander,  of  poverty  and  misfortune, 
of  weariness,  pain  and  suffering,  having  finished  his 
course  he  now  rests  from  his  labors — rests  in  peace. 
He  has  passed  from  earth,  enduring  unto  the  end. 

"O!   let  him  pass.     He  hates  him 
That  would  upon  the  rack  of  this  tough  world 
Stretch  him  out  longer." 

Whatever  was  great  in  his  public  life — and  there 

was  much — whatever  was  memorable  in  his  actions, 
214 


— -jr 


BECOLLECTIONS  AND  TKIBUTE.  215 

as  soldier,  scholar,  orator,  statesman,  patriot,  these 
things  I  relegate  to  history.  T  desire  only  to  utter 
a  few  simple  words  in  loving  remembrance  of  the 
chief  I  honored,  of  the  man  I  admired,  of  the  dead 
friend  whom  I  loved.  What  manner  of  man  was 
this  for  whom  ten  millions  of  people  are  in  grief 
and  tears  this  day  ?  No  man  ever  lived  upon  whom 
the  glare  of  public  attention  beat  more  fiercely, 
no  man  ever  lived  more  sharply  criticised,  more 
unjustly  slandered,  more  sternly  censured,  more 
strongly  condemned,  more  bitterly  hated,  more 
wrongly  maligned,  and,  though  slandered  by  ene 
mies,  betrayed  by  false  friends,  carped  at  by  igno 
rant  fools,  no  man  ever  lived  who  could  more 
fearlessly,  like  a  great  man  who  long  preceded  him, 
"leave  the  vindication  of  his  fair  fame  to  the 
next  ages  and  to  men's  charitable  speeches."  Stand 
ing  here  to-day  by  his  open  grave,  and,  in  all 
probability,  not  very  far  from  my  own,  I  declare  to 
you  that  he  was  the  honestest,  truest,  gentlest, 
bravest,  tenderest,  manliest  man  I  ever  knew :  and 
what  more  could  I  say  than  that?  My  public  life 
was  long  since  over,  my  ambition  went  down  with 
the  banner  of  the  South,  and,  like  it,  never  rose 
again.  I  have  had  abundant  time  in  all  these  quiet 
years,  and  it  has  been  my  favorite  occupation,  to 
review  the  occurrences  of  that  time,  and  recall  over 
the  history  of  that  tremendous  struggle,  to  remem- 


216  KEMIN1SCENCES  OF  JEFFERSON  DAVIS. 

ber  with  love  and  admiration,  the  great  men  who 
bore  their  part  in  its  events. 

I  have  often  thought  what  was  it  that  the  South 
ern  people  had  to  be  most  proud  of  in  all  the 
proud  things  of  their  record.  Not  the  achieve 
ments  of  our  arms.  No  man  is  more  proud  of  them 
than  I;  no  man  rejoices  more  in  Manassas,  Chan- 
cellorsville  and  in  Richmond ;  but  all  nations  have 
had  their  victories.  There  is  something,  I  think, 
better  than  that,  and  it  was  this,  that  through  all 
the  bitterness  of  that  time,  and  throughout  all  the 
heat  of  that  fierce  contest,  Jefferson  Davis  and 
Robert  E.  Lee  never  spoke  a  word,  never  wrote  a 
line  that  the  whole  neutral  world  did  not  accept 
as  the  very  indisputable  truth.  You  all  remember 
that  Mr.  Davis  did  not  send  a  message  to  Congress, 
in  which  he  portrayed  the  condition  and  causes  of 
things,  that  all  the  world  did  not  know  it  to  be  true. 
You  know,  Mr.  Chairman,  and  you  remember,  you 
old  grey  jackets;  yes,  you  all  remember,  that  when 
General  Lee,  in  his  quiet,  modest,  reverent  way, 
would  telegraph  to  Mr.  Davis,  at  Richmond,  that 
God  had  mercifully  blessed  our  arms,  not  all  the 
lying  bulletins  that  shingled  over  half  the  world 
could  make  any  one  believe  that  there  had  been  a 
Federal  victory.  Aye,  truth  was  the  guiding  star 
of  both  of  them,  and  that  is  a  grand  thing  to 
remember ;  upon  that  my  memory  rests  more  proudly 


RECOLLECTIONS  AND  TRIBUTE.         217 

than  upon  anything  else.  It  is  a  monument  better 
than  marble,  more  durable  than  brass.  Teach  it  to 
your  children,  that  they  may  be  proud  to  remember 
Jefferson  Davis. 

The  more  you  knew  him,  the  nearer  you  came  to 
him,  the  more  you  saw  and  heard  him,  the  greater 
he  grew. 

He  has  been  growing  greater  and  greater  for 
twent}7-fi  ve  years ;  he  will  be  greater  one  hundred 
years  hence  than  he  is  to-day.  Such  wonderful  and 
accurate  information  I  never  saw.  He  seemed  to  me 
to  have  traversed  the  whole  course  of  science  and  of 
nature  and  of  art.  Whatever  was  the  topic  of  con 
versation,  from  making  a  horseshoe  to  interpreting 
the  Constitution,  from  adjusting  a  jack-plane  to 
building  a  railroad,  he  not  only  seemed  to  know  all 
about  it,  but  could  tell  you  the  most  approved 
method  of  doing  it  all.  Some  people  have  an  idea, 
and  not  a  few,  I  expect,  that  Mr.  Davis  was  a  cold, 
severe,  austere,  unfeeling  man.  There  never  was  a 
more  untrue  opinion.  No  man  ever  had  a  better 
right  to  know  than  I.  For  sixteen  months  I  had 
the  honor  to  be  at  the  head  of  the  Law  Department 
of  the  Government,  and  every  sentence  of  a  military 
court  that  went  to  Mr.  Davis  was  referred  to  me 
for  examination  and  report.  I  do  not  think  I  am  a 
very  cruel  man,  but  I  declare  to  you  it  was  the  most 
difficult  thing  in  the  world  to  keep  Mr.  Davis  up  to 


218  REMINISCENCES  OF  JEFFERSON  DAVIS. 

the  measure  of  justice.  He  wanted  to  pardon 
everybody,  and  if  ever  a  wife,  or  mother,  or  a  sister 
got  into  his  presence,  it  took  but  a  little  while  for 
their  tears  to  wash  out  the  records. 

Hear  what  General  Taylor  wrote  of  him — General 
Dick  Taylor,  who  knew  him  even  better  than  I  did, 
and  who  was  himself, 

"  The  knightliest  of  the  knightly  race 

That  since  the  days  of  old 
Have  kept  the  lamp  of  chivalry 
Alight  in  hearts  of  gold." 

"In  the  month  of  March,  1875,  my  devoted  wife 
was  released  from  suffering.  Smitten  by  the  calam 
ity,  I  stood  by  her  coffin  as  it  was  closed,  to  look 
for  the  last  time  upon  features  that  death  had 
respected  and  restored  to  their  girlish  beauty.  Mr. 
Davis  came  reverently  to  my  side  and  stooped 
reverently  to  touch  the  fair  brow,  when  the  tender 
ness  of  his  heart  overcame  him  and  he  burst  into 
tears.  His  example  completely  unnerved  me  for 
the  time,  but  was  of  service  in  the  end.  For  many 
succeeding  days  he  came  to  me  and  was  as  gentle 
as  a  young  mother  with  her  suffering  infant.  Mem 
ory  will  ever  recall  Jefferson  Davis  as  he  stood  with 
me  by  that  coffin." 

I  do  not  know,  but  I  profess  to  you  that  I 
thoroughly  believe  that  he  could  never  read  the 
story  of  "  Little  Nell "  or  the  death  of  Colonel  New- 


EECOLLECTIONS  AND  TKIBUTE.  219 

come  without  his  eyes  being  bedimmed  with  tears. 
Once  he  was  indisposed  in  Richmond,  so  sick  that 
the  physician  confined  him  to  the  bed.  To  relieve 
the  monotony,  his  wife  was  reading  to  him  one 
morning  some  story — I  do  not  remember  what. 
He  was  so  quiet  that  Mrs.  Davis  thought  he  was 
asleep,  but  did  not  stop  for  fear  of  awaking  him. 
She  got  to  that  portion  of  the  book  where  the  villain 
of  the  story  got  the  heroine  into  his  power,  and 
was  coming  it  pretty  strong  over  her,  when  sud 
denly  she  heard  him  exclaim :  "  The  infernal  vil 
lain  !"  and  looking  around,  the  President  was  sitting 
up  in  bed  with  both  fists  clenched.  Well,  this  is  a 
little  thing;  do  you  respect  him  less  for  it?  It 
showed  that  he  was  a  man,  not  a  cold  image  set  up 
on  a  pedestal  for  us  to  admire,  a  man  with  the  faults 
and  weaknesses  of  human  nature,  but  a  man  with 
the  great  virtues  of  a  great  nature.  I  never  saw  a 
man  more  simple  in  his  habits  of  life.  He  sur 
rounded  himself  with  no  barriers  of  forms  and 
ceremonies.  The  humblest  soldier  in  the  ranks, 
the  plainest  citizen  in  the  Confederacy,  could  have 
as  easy  access  to  him  as  the  members  of  his  Cabinet, 
when  such  demands  on  his  time  were  consistent  with 
the  demands  of  the  public  service.  No  man  ever 
lived  who  more  thoroughly  despised  the  mere  show 
and  tinsel  of  state  and  power,  and  the  trappings  of 
office. 


220  KEMINISCENCES  OF  JEFFERSON  DAVIS. 

Mr.  Davis  was  at  the  head  of  one  of  the  grandest 
armies  the  world  ever  saw  in  a  time  when  "  laws 
were  silent  in  the  midst  of  arms,"  and  I  give  you 
my  word  I  never  saw  him  attended  by  a  guard 
or  even  by  an  orderly.  His  domestic  servants  and 
his  office  messengers  were  all  that  he  needed,  and 
all  that  he  would  have.  I  say  he  was  never 
attended  by  a  guard ;  he  was  once,  and  I  shall  never 
forget  the  pleasure  with  which  he  told  me  of  it. 
When  General  Lee  was  encamped  on  the  banks  of 
the  Chickahominy,  near  Richmond,  Mr.  Davis  was 
in  the  habit  every  afternoon,  after  the  business  of 
his  office  was  over,  of  riding  out  to  his  headquarters. 
Upon  these  visits  he  always  went  on  horseback,  and 
generally  alone.  Upon  one  occasion  he  was  detained 
later  than  usual,  and  night  had  fallen  before  he 
left  General  Lee's  tent.  As  he  rode  along  he  heard 
a  horse  approaching  rapidly,  and  presently  a  cheery 
young  voice  cried  out,  "Good  evening,"  and  as  he 
turned  to  salute,  a  young  lad  rode  up  to  his  side — 
a  mere  boy  of  sixteen  or  seventeen  years  of  age, 
but  he  wore  the  grey  jacket,  and  had  his  rifle  on  his 
shoulder  and  his  revolver  in  his  belt.  "  Good  even 
ing,  is  your  name  Davis?"  "Yes."  "Jefferson 
Davis  ?"  "  Yes."  "  I  thought  so.  Now,  don't  you 
think  you  are  doing  very  wrong  to  be  riding  around 
in  the  dark  by  yourself?"  Mr.  Davis  said  he  was 
within  our  lines,  and  had  nothing  to  fear  from 


KECOLLECTIONS  AND  TKIBUTE.  221 

Confederate  soldiers.  "  It  ain't  right,"  said  the  boy, 
"  for  there  are  bad  men  in  our  army  as  well  as  in 
all  armies."  Mr.  Davis,  in  his  kind  and  gentle  way, 
entered  into  conversation  with  him,  and  they  rode 
on  five  or  six  miles  together,  until  they  reached  the 
fortifications  of  the  city,  when  the  boy  drew  up  and 
said :  "  Well,  I'll  turn  back  now.  Good  evening," 
and  rode  away  into  the  darkness.  The  brave  lad 
thought  the  President  was  in  danger,  and  he  made 
himself  his  body-guard,  determined  to  see  him 
through;  and  he  would  have  died  for  him  there 
upon  that  lonely  road  with  as  much  bravery  and 
cheerfulness  as  thousands  of  his  comrades  were 
dying  every  day  for  the  cause  Mr.  Davis  repre 
sented. 

Ah,  his  people  loved  him,  and  have  met  together 
to-day  to  show  it  to  the  world.  I  once  witnessed  a 
scene  which  showed  how  the  people  loved  him.  In 
May,  1867,  after  two  years  of  the  most  brutal  treat 
ment,  the  most  brutal  imprisonment  the  world  ever 
saw,  outside  of  Siberia,  unrelieved  by  the  slightest 
touch  of  kindness  or  generosity,  Mr.  Davis  was 
brought  to  trial  before  the  Federal  Court  in  Rich 
mond.  I  chanced  to  be  there,  and  promised  Mrs. 
Davis,  as  soon  as  I  had  any  intimation  of  what  the 
court  was  going  to  do,  to  come  and  report.  I  sat  in 
the  court  when  Chief  Justice  Chase  announced  that 
the  prisoner  was  released.  I  never  knew  how  I 


222  REMINISCENCES  OF  JEFFEESON  DAVIS. 

got  out  of  that  court-house,  or  through  the  crowd 
that  lined  the  streets,  but  I  found  myself  in  Mrs. 
Davis'  room  and  reported.  In  a  little  while  I  looked 
out  of  a  window  and  saw  that  the  streets  were 
lined  with  thousands  and  thousands  of  the  people 
of  Richmond,  and  scarcely  passage  was  there  even 
for  the  carriage  in  which  Mr.  Davis  rode  at  a  funeral 
gait ;  and  as  he  rode  every  head  was  bared,  not  a 
sound  was  heard,  except  now  and  then  a  long  sigh, 
and  so  he  ascended  to  his  wife's  chamber.  That 
room  was  crowded  with  friends,  male  and  female. 
As  Mr.  Davis  entered  they  rushed  to  him  and  threw 
their  arms  around  him.  They  embraced  each  other, 
old  soldiers,  men  of  tried  daring,  cried  like  infants. 
Dear  old  Dr.  Minnegerode  lifted  up  his  hands,  with 
big  tears  rolling  down  his  cheeks,  and  the  assembled 
company  knelt  down,  while  he  offered  up  a  short 
thanksgiving  to  God  for  having  restored  to  us  our 
revered  chieftain. 

Now,  what  more  can  I  say  ?  I  have  endeavored 
to  give  you  these  little  personal  traits  of  Mr.  Davis 
in  order  that  you  might  know  him  better.  I  have 
said  he  was  a  prince.  He  was  far  better  than  that. 
He  was  a  high-souled,  true-hearted  Christian  gentle 
man.  And  if  our  poor  humanity  has  any  higher 
form  than  that,  I  know  not  what  it  is.  His  great 
and  active  intellect  never  exercised  itself  with  ques 
tioning  the  being  of  God  or  the  truth  of  His  reve- 


EECOLLECTIONS  AND  TKIBUTE.         223 

lations  to  man.  He  never  thought  it  "wise  or  smart 
to  scoff  at  mysteries  which  he  could  not  understand. 
He  never  was  daring  enough  to  measure  infinite 
power  and  goodness  by  the  poor,  narrow  gauge  of  a 
limited,  crippled  human  intellect.  Where  he  under 
stood  he  admired,  worshipped,  adored.  Where  he 
could  not  understand,  he  rested  unquestioningly 
upon  a  faith  that  was  as  the  faith  of  a  little  child — 
a  faith  that  never  wavered,  and  that  made  him  look 
always  undoubtingly,  fearlessly  through  life,  through 
death,  to  life  again. 


"MY  DEAD  HERO." 

BY   CHARTS   MINNIGKRODK,    D.D., 
Mr.  Davis'  Pastor  during  the  War. 

is  the  plaintive  name  given  to  him  in  a 
JL  personal  letter  to  me  by  the  one  who  knew 
him  best  and  loved  him  most — his  noble, 
stricken  widow.  And  millions  have  responded  in  a 
loud  and  solemn  echo,  "  Our  Dead  Hero!' 

I  do  not  know  that  History,  in  any  time  or  coun 
try,  has  witnessed  such  deep-toned,  universal  feel 
ing,  such  a  spontaneous  upheaving  of  the  deepest 
sorrow  and  sympathy  of  the  heart,  and,  as  if  stand- 
ing  at  his  grave,  from  every  quarter  of  the  South, 
people  poured  out  their  lament,  their  admiration, 
loyalty  and  love  in  such  irrepressible  manifestations. 

In  the  great  epochs  and  events  of  History  there 
ever  rises  one  man,  who  seems  to  be  pointed  out  by 
Providence  as  the  leader  in  the  struggle,  and  in 
whom  the  conflict  is  represented  and,  as  it  were,  in 
carnated.  A  Cromwell,  William  of  Orange,  our  own 
peerless  Washington — not  one  of  them  were  the 
originators,  the  cause  of  events.  Circumstances,  the 
necessities  of  the  times,  brought  them  to  the  surface, 
and  put  them  in  the  place  for  which  Providence  had 

called  them  and  fitted  them.     If  I  have  understood 
224 


P      O 

o        £ 

g.    c 


£  * 

.?  £    Ife 


O    C 

?    z 
«•    c 


«  MY  DEAD  HERO."  225 

Mr.  Davis'  position  at  all,  he  gloried  in  the  Revolu 
tion  of  the  Colonies  in  1776  as  the  struggle  for  the 
rights  and  liberties  which  belonged  to  them  as  their 
natural  claims  which  the  home-country  denied  to 
them.  The  secession  of  the  Southern  States  was  in 
defence  of  their  constitutional  rights,  which  were 
threatened  by  the  aggressive  and  unconstitutional 
policy  of  the  Government.  That  Government  was 
a  union  of  the  separate  Colonies  as  sovereign  States, 
which  delegated  certain  powers  to  the  General  Gov 
ernment  as  the  central  agent  of  the  sovereign  States. 
The  debate  about  their  mutual  relation  was  long, 
and  the  two  views  of  a  centralized  nation  and  a 
union  of  sovereign  States  existed  from  the  begin 
ning.  But  there  would  have  been  no  United  States 
at  all  if  the  States'  rights  had  not  been  established 
by  the  Constitution.  It  is  the  fundamental  and  car 
dinal  bond  of  the  different  States,  which,  only  on 
these  terms,  at  last  ratified  and  accepted  the  Consti 
tution.  The  right  of  States  to  withdraw  when  they 
deemed  themselves  wronged  by  measures  of  the 
Central  Government  was  claimed  more  than  once  by 
Northern  States,  while  there  was  an  equilibrium  in 
strength  and  power  of  the  two  sections.  But  the 
bond  of  union,  with  the  glorious  recollections  and 
struggled  of  the  common  country,  prevented  action. 
It  was  only  when  the  North  became  overwhelming 
in  power,  and  its  population  growing  from  year  to 
15 


226  EEMINISCENCES  OF  JEFFEESON  DAVIS. 

year,  that  separation  or  withdrawal  became  a  possi 
bility.  Compromises  upon  compromises  staved  off 
the  danger,  but  did  not  secure  the  minority  of  the 
States  against  the  aggressive  policy  of  the  North. 
Noble  men  in  the  North  and  South  labored  for  years 
to  heal  the  breach,  and  Jefferson  Davis  was  among 
the  foremost  to  labor  for  the  Union  and  urge  the 
policy  of  patience,  forbearance  and  hope,  dreading 
separation  as  the  most  unhappy  event.  But  in  vain. 
The  strife  went  on ;  the  breach  widened.  And  at 
last  the  Southern  States  felt  themselves  forced  to 
meet  what  to  them  appeared  as  secession  on  the  part 
of  the  North  from  the  fundamental  and  cardinal 
features  of  the  Constitution,  by  their  constitutional 
right  to  withdraw  (they  did  not  think  it  right  to 
disobey  or  rebel  while  part  and  parcel  of  the  United 
States  Government) ;  when  delay  would  have  event 
ually  resulted  in  the  subjugation  of  the  South  to 
mere  majority,  and  the  surrender  of  all  their  liber 
ties  guaranteed  by  the  Constitution,  reducing  the 
sovereign  States  to  mere  provinces — then  it  was  not 
revolution  or  rebellion,  but  the  resort  to  their  con 
stitutional  right  of  secession,  which  was  chosen ;  and 
life,  property  and  honor  were  pledged  in  support  of 
their  action. 

These  were  the  views  of  the  Southern  States,  and 
shared  to  this  day — at  'least  as  far  as  the  constitu 
tional  question  is  concerned — by  many  in  the  North. 


"MY  DEAD  HEKO."  227 

In  the  very  beginning  of  the  trouble  I  had  a  long 
and  earnest  letter  from  a  dear  friend  and  distin 
guished  constitutional  lawyer  in  the  North,  acknowl 
edging  that  we  were  in  the  right  indeed,  but  that 
they  were  bound  to  fight  us,  even  in  self-defence, — 
"  we  cannot  do  without  the  South,  cannot  allow  it  to 
become  a  separate  State."  The  feeling  for  his  sec 
tion  made  him  consent  to  do  what  he  held  to  be  con 
stitutionally  wrong.  And  many  like  him  have  al 
lowed  their  sectional  allegiance  to  override  their 
legal  scruples. 

Whatever  may  be  thought  of  these  views,  and 
however  they  may  be  affected  by  the  failure  of  the 
Confederacy,  it  was  on  their  part  a  struggle  for  life 
and  liberty,  and  the  right  of  self-defence  when  their 
liberties  were  threatened. 

Jefferson  Davis  held  these  views  conscientiously 
and  consistently.  When  his  State  seceded,  he  fol 
lowed  the  call  of  the  sovereign  State,  to  which  he 
owed  his  first  allegiance. 

I  have  ventured  to  make  these  statements,  be 
cause  they  are  the  key  to  his  whole  life  and  his 
every  action.  He  was  one  of  the  most  consistent 
and  conscientious  of  men — "  a  duty  man,"  as  he  was 
in  the  habit  of  calling  others  whom  he  trusted  and 
esteemed,  and  whom  he  gauged  by  that — and  noth 
ing  could  turn  him  from  what  he  considered  to  be 
his  duty.  He  was  as  unselfish  as  it  falls  to  the  best 


228  KEMINISCENCES  OF  JEFFERSON  DAVIS. 

of  men  to  be ;  he  had  "  no  axe  to  grind/'  and  would 
have  spurned  himself  for  seeking  his  self-interest  or 
his  own  glory.  He  lived  and  died  a  true  hero  in  the 
maintenance  of  the  position  into  which  Providence 
— "the  vox  popuK"  alike  as  what  was  (to  him)  "the 
vox  Dei" — called  him.  That  call  came  to  him 
loudly  and  unanimously  from  the  whole  South ;  and 
I  think  all  admit  that  he  was  the  only  one  who 
could  have  conducted  the  terrible  task  that  was  ap 
pointed  him.  He  never  sought :  he  was  sought.  It 
was  his  genius,  his  talents,  his  character,  that  raised 
him  from  place  to  place,  from  honor  to  honor,  and 
singled  him  out  as  the  one  man  the  South  could  trust 
with  the  responsibility  of  Chief  of  the  Southern 
Confederacy. 

Jefferson  Davis  was  the  rarest  combination  of  tal 
ents  and  excellency  in  almost  every  department: 
military,  political,  legal,  administrative,  moral  and, 
I  boldly  add,  religious. 

Military:  who  earned  his  spurs  and  reached  celeb 
rity  in  the  wars  of  his  country ;  by  nature  perhaps 
more  ambitious  in  that  line  than  any  other,  and 
who,  I  am  sure,  would  gladly  have  been  in  the 
saddle,  and  commanded  his  armies,  had  not  higher 
duties  and  his  respect  for  his  glorious  generals  re 
strained  him. 

Political:  as  shown  by  the  influence  he  gained  in 
every  position,  and  his  sagacity,  which  amounted  to 


"MY  DEAD  HEKO."  229 

true  statesmanship,  clear  in  his  views,  comprehen 
sive,  and  yet  fully  at  home  in  details. 

Legal  .-""a  mind  thoroughly  trained  in  the  law,  and 
one  of  the  best  expounders  of  the  Constitution — the 
basis  on  which  he  stood  in  all  his  actions. 

Administrative :  to  a  degree  which  roused  the  ad 
miration  of  the  world  and  even  his  enemies,  and 
which  enabled  him  to  hold  together  the  different 
views  and  preferences  of  people,  to  create  order 
where  was  at  first  only  enthusiasm,  to  employ  as  his 
counselors  the  best  talent,  and  with  their  help  to 
bind  together  all  the  different  elements  of  his  wide 
field,  to  bring  into  shape  all  that  was  unformed,  to 
take  a  country  unprepared,  without  regular  training, 
without  finances,  without  the  materials  of  war,  shut 
out  from  all  external  help,  and  conduct  and  sustain 
its  affairs  through  four  long  years  of  war,  suffering, 
difficulties  and  wants,  when  everything  had  first  to 
be  created  by  his  energetic  and  clear-headed  co-oper 
ation  and  direction. 

Moral:  The  glory,  I  think,  of  the  Confederacy 
was  the  order  and  decency  with  which  everything 
was  conducted,  and  the  example  set  by  its  chief. 
There  were  more  Christian  men  at  the  head  of  the 
different  departments,  more  soldiers  of  Christ  in  offi 
cers  and  men  than  I  have  ever  known  :  "  Christ  was 
in  the  camp."  I  know  more  of  Mr.  Davis  in  this 
respect  than  perhaps  any  other  man.  I  knew  more 


230  EEMINISCENCES  OF  JEFFERSON  DAVIS. 

of  his  inner  life,  and  saw  him  intimately  in  all  pos 
sible  situations :  always  true,  there  was  not  a  false 
fibre  in  him ;  always  pure,  his  whole  being  loathing 
an  impure  thought,  anything  low  or  corrupting ;  and 
when  he  became  a  communicant  of  the  Church,  he 
verified  in  his  person,  in  word  and  deed,  as  far  as  I 
could  judge,  that  he  was  "  pure  in  heart/'  and  lived 
conscientiously  in  the  sight  of  God.  All  his  habits 
bore  the  stamp  of  that. 

And  thus  I  will  not  say  more  of  him  as  a  religious 
man.  I  do  not  claim  to  have  had  much  share  in  the 
development  of  his  Christian  character.  I  hope  I 
was  a  help  to  him  as  he  was  to  me. 

I  would  not  be  misunderstood.  Though  I  believe 
I  knew  more  of  this  than  anybody,  except  his  wife, 
and  though  I  loved  and  honored  him — a  noble,  un 
selfish,  guileless  character — of  course  he  had  his 
faults  :  who  has  not  ?  and  made  mistakes  :  who  does 
not  ?  But  the  man's  self-control  was  wonderful,  and 
the  high  aim  that  guided  him  saved  him  from  the 
perils  of  those  in  such  prominent  positions,  involved 
as  he  was  in  cruel  warfare,  affected  by  its  harrowing 
and  ever-changing  situations. 

I  would  not  be  astonished  if  he  had  been  "  a  good 
hater,"  such  as  Dr.  Johnson  "liked."  All  strong 
men  have  strong  feelings.  But  it  was  more  against 
the  wrong-doing  of  men,  than  their  persons.  There 
was  a  generosity  in  him  and  a  large-hearted  disposi 
tion  which  was  ready  to  forgive. 


"MY  DEAD  HEKO."  231 

With  all  his  calmness  and  sagacity,  such  was  his 
want  of  guile,  that  he  was  perhaps  liable  to  fall 
under  the  influence  of  injudicious,  perhaps  even  false 
friends,  at  least  for  a  time.  Like  all  of  us,  he  had 
his  prejudices  and  his  preferences;  but  if  he  had 
faults  like  these,  they  were  the  result  of  his  unso 
phisticated,  guileless  nature,  which  looked  for  the 
good  in  people  rather  than  the  evil.  His  gentleness 
was  charming,  and  in  a  thousand  ways  he  showed  his 
sympathy  with  the  poor  and  needy.  The  war  had 
not  hardened  him.  I  have  occasionally  been  led  to 
intercede  for  a  prisoner  of  war,  and  he  always  took 
the  side  of  mercy.  I  have  known  ladies — mothers 
from  the  North — to  intercede  in  behalf  of  their  sons, 
and  leave  him  with  blessings  and  tears  of  gratitude. 

I  have  heard  him  speak  of  his  old  friends  of  West 
Point,  on  either  side,  with  the  deepest  interest,  and 
always  with  dignity  and  doing  justice  to  his  enemies 
in  the  conflict  impartially  and  even  heartily.  He 
was  a  true  gentleman  and  soldier. 

That  any  man  should  dare,  at  this  time,  when 
the  true  history  of  his  conduct  towards  the  prison 
ers  of  war  is  made  known  and  document arily  proved 
• — should  dare  to  repeat  the  extravagant  and  sensa 
tional  outcries  of  his  vindictive  maligners,  and  be 
low  enough  still  to  make  capital  of  it  for  political, 
and  South  hating  purposes,  and  that  not  only  before 
mobs,  but  in  the  Congress  of  the  United  States,  is 


232  EEMIXISCENCES  OF  JEFFERSON  DAVIS. 

almost  incredible.  The  investigation  of  this  subject 
is  a  dangerous  thing  for  his  defamers,  be  they  who 
they  may. 

His  unselfishness  was  unsurpassed.  Like  a  second 
Sir  Philip  Sidney,  whenever  offers  of  pecuniary  help 
were  made  to  him — much  as  he  really  needed  it — 
he  declined  them  courteously  and  advised  chat  they 
be  given  to  his  poor  soldiers  and  people. 

The  events  of  his  life  are  so  closely  connected 
with  the  events  of  the  war,  and  have  been  spoken 
of  and  written  of  so  often  that  I  pass  them.  My 
connection  with  him  was  chiefly  that  of  his  pastor, 
and  I  will  not  prolong  this  article  by  retailing  what 
I  have  said  elsewhere.  To  many  it  would  not  be 
very  interesting,  perhaps.  But  all  I  have  said  of 
him,  and  his  character  is  the  result  of  my  knowledge 
of  him,  through  my  personal,  intimate  intercourse 
during  the  war,  during  his  imprisonment  and  since. 

It  was  worth  seeing  a  man  like  him  pass  through 
the  changing  scenes  of  his  eventful  life,  and  watch 
the  calm  dignity,  the  firm  determination,  resolution 
to  do  his  duty  and  trust  in  God  and  in  the  right 
eousness  of  his  cause. 

I  remember  the  last  meeting  with  him  before  the 
failure  of  our  cause.  I  had  dined  with  him  in  com 
pany  with  Mr.  Halcomb  and  a  member  of  the  Vir 
ginia  Legislature  (I  do  not  remember  his  name  now), 
and  after  dinner  we  retired  to  his  little  ante-cham- 


"MY  DEAD  HERO."  233 

her,  speaking  of  various  things,  when  General  Lee 
came  in,  the  soldier,  the  gentleman,  the  honored 
friend — just  from  the  army  before  Petersburg. 
Calm  and  dignified  as  ever,  he  looked  sad  and 
thoughful,  and  the  conversation  soon  turned  on  our 
condition.  We  all  knew  that  it  was  as  alarming  as 
could  be.  Our  friend  from  the  Legislature  said  to 
him,  "  Cheer  up,  general.  We  have  done  a  good 
work  for  you  to-day.  The  Legislature  has  passed 
an  order  to  raise  an  additional  number  of  15,000 
men  for  you."  General  Lee  bowed  his  head  meekly : 
"  Yes,  passing  resolutions  is  kindly  meant,  but  get 
ting  the  men  is  another  thing.  Yes,"  he  continued, 
with  flashing  eyes,  "if  I  had  15,000  fresh  additional 
troops,  things  would  look  very  different."  Mr. 
Davis  knew  how  true  were  the  fears  of  his  general. 
It  was  sad  to  see  these  two  men  with  their  terrible 
responsibilities  upon  them  and  the  hopeless  outlook. 
Sad  at  heart,  we  left  them  to  consult  in  lonely  con 
ference,  I  suppose  about  the  possible  necessity  of 
evacuating  Richmond. 

The  2d  of  April  followed  soon  after  this.  Per 
haps  a  strictly  correct  account  may  not  be  improper. 
It  was  Sunday,  a  beautiful  Sunday  like  that  of  the 
first  Manassas,  and  the  air  seemed  full  of  something 
like  a  foreboding  of  good  or  bad.  All  expected  a 
battle,  and  I  know  that  wagons  were  held  in  readi 
ness  for  transportation  of  commissary  stores,  animu- 


234  KEMINISCENCES  OF  JEFFERSON  DAVIS. 

nition,  etc.  The  beautiful  church  of  St.  Paul,  in  its 
chaste  simplicity  and  symmetry,  was  filled  to  the 
utmost,  as  always  during  the  war.  Mr.  Davis,  who 
never  failed  to  be  in  his  pew  unless  when  sick  or 
absent  from  the  city,  was  there,  devoutly  following 
the  services  of  the  church.  It  was  the  regular  day 
for  the  Holy  Communion.  Nothing  had  occurred 
to  disturb  the  congregation,  though  anxiety  was  in 
many  a  heart.  As  the  ante-communion  service  was 
read  and  the  people  were  on  their  knees,  I  saw  the 
sexton  go  to  Mr.  Davis'  pew  and  hand  him  what 
proved  to  be  a  telegram.  I  could  not  but  see  it. 
Mr.  Davis  took  it  quietly,  not  to  disturb  the  congre 
gation,  put  on  his  overcoat  and  walked  out.  On 
communion  occasions  I  was  wont  to  make  a  short 
address  from  the  chancel.  While  doing  so,  the  sex 
ton  came  in  repeatly  and  called  out  this  one  and 
that  one,  all  connected  with  the  government  and 
military  service.  Of  course  the  congregation  be 
came  very  restless  and  I  tried  to  finish  my  address 
as  soon  as  I  could,  without  adding  to  the  threaten 
ing  panic.  But  when  the  sexton  came  to  the  chan 
cel-railing  and  spoke  to  Rev.  Mr.  Kepler,  who 
assisted  me,  they  began  to  stir,  and  I  closed  as 
quickly  as  possible.  Then  Mr.  Kepler  told  me  the 
provost-marshal  wanted  to  see  me  in  the  vestry- 
room.  I  went  out  and  found  Major  Isaac  H.  Car- 
rington,  who  informed  me  that  General  Lee's  lines 


"MY  DEAD  HERO."  235 

had  been  broken  before  Petersburg,  that  he  was  in 
retreat,  and  Richmond  must  be  evacuated.  As 
nothing  would  occur  till  the  evening,  he  asked  my 
advice  whether  the  alarm  should  be  rung  at  once  or 
in  the  afternoon.  We  determined  to  wait  till  3 
o'clock,  and  I  returned  to  the  chancel.  As  I  entered 
I  found  the  congregation  streaming  out  of  the 
church,  and  I  sprang  forward  and  called  out,  "  Stop  ! 
stop !  there  is  no  necessity  for  your  leaving  the 
church ; "  and  most  of  them  (all  who  had  not  left 
before  I  got  back)  returned.  Then  I  recalled  my 
appointment  for  service  that  night,  told  the  people 
that  w^e  had  met  with  disaster  before  Petersburg, 
and  a  meeting  of  the  citizens  would  be  called  by  the 
alarm-bell  at  3  o'clock  in  the  Capitol  Square ;  that 
there  was  no  occasion  for  them  to  leave  at  once,  and 
requested  the  communicants  to  stay  to  the  celebra 
tion.  About  250  or  300  remained,  and  some  felt  as 
if  they  were  kneeling  there  with  the  halter  around 
their  necks.  The  panic  was  so  great. 

That  evening  Mr.  Davis  left  Richmond.  A  week 
later,  after  the  battle  of  Appomattox,  General  Lee 
surrendered,  and  whilst  General  Johnston  was  still 
in  the  field  and  Kirby  Smith  with  his  army  on  the 
Mississippi,  the  Confederacy  was  virtually  at  an 
end. 

By  the  request  of  the  publishers  the  incidents  of 
my  intercourse  with  Mr.  Davis — although  they  have 


236  KEMINISCENCES  OF  JEFFERSON  DAVIS. 

already  appeared  in  some  newspapers — are  here  in 
serted  to  make  the  article  complete. 

I  cannot  describe  my  meeting  with  Mr.  Davis 
in  his  cell.  He  knew  nothing  of  my  coming,  and  it 
was  difficult  to  control  ourselves. 

Mr.  Davis'  room  (he  had  been  removed  from 
the  casemate,  and  the  infamous  outrage  of  putting 
him  in  chains)  was  an  end  room  on  the  second  floor, 
with  a  passage  and  window  on  each  side  of  the  room, 
and  an  ante-room  in  front  separated  by  an  open 
grated  door — a  sentinel  on  each  passage  and  before 
the  grated  door  of  the  ante-room.  Six  eyes  were  al 
ways  upon  him  day  and  night;  all  alone,  no  one  to 
see,  no  one  to  speak  to ! 

I  must  hurry  on.  You  may  yourselves  make  out 
what  our  conversation  must  have  been. 

The  noble  man  showed  the  effect  of  the  confine 
ment  ;  but  his  spirit  could  not  be  subdued,  and  no 
indignity — angry  as  it  made  him  at  the  time — could 
humiliate  him. 

I  was  his  pastor,  and  of  course  our  conversation 
was  influenced  by  that  and  there  could  be  no  hold 
ing  back  between  us.  I  had  come  to  sympathize 
and  comfort  and  pray  with  him. 

QUESTION  OF  COMMUNION. 

At  last  the  question  of  the  Holy  Communion  came 
up.  I  really  do  not  remember  whether  he  or  I 


"MY  DEAD  HERO."  237 

first  mentioned  it.  He  was  very  anxious  to  take  it. 
He  was  a  purely  pious  man,  and  felt  the  need  and 
value  of  the  means  of  grace.  But  there  was  one 
difficulty.  Could  he  take  it  in  the  proper  spirit — in 
the  frame  of  a  forgiving  mind,  after  all  the  ill  treat 
ment  he  had  been  subjected  to  ?  He  was  too  up 
right  and  conscientious  a  Christian  man  "  to  eat  and 
drink  unworthily'1 — i.e.,  not  in  the  proper  spirit, 
and,  as  far  as  lay  in  him,  in  peace  with  God  and  man. 

I  left  him  to  settle  that  question  between  himself 
and  his  own  conscience  and  what  he  understood 
God's  law  to  be. 

In  the  afternoon  General  Miles  took  me  to  him 
again.  I  had  spoken  to  him  about  the  communion 
and  he  promised  to  make  preparation  for  me. 

I  found  Mr.  Davis  with  his  mind  made  up. 
Knowing  the  honesty  of  the  man,  and  that  there 
would  be,  could  be,  "no  shamming,"  nor  mere 
"superstitious  belief  in  the  ordinance,  I  was  delighted 
when  I  found  him  ready  to  commune.  He  had  laid 
the  bridle  upon  his  very  natural  feeling  and  was 
ready  to  pray  "  Father,  forgive  them." 

A  NOTABLE  COMMUNION. 

Then  came  the  communion — he  and  I  alone,  but 
with  God. 

It  was  one  of  those  cases  where  the  Kubric  can 
not  be  binding. 


238  KEMINISCENCES  OF  JEFFERSON  DAVIS. 

It  was  night.  The  fortress  was  so  still  that  you 
could  hear  a  pin  fall.  General  Miles,  with  his  back 
to  us  leaning  against  the  fireplace  in  the  ante-room ; 
his  head  in  his  hands  not  moving;  the  sentinels 
ordered  to  stand  still,  and  they  stood  like  statues. 

I  cannot  conceive  of  a  more  solemn  communion 
scene.  But  it  was  telling  upon  both  of  us ;  I  trust 
for  lasting  good. 

Whenever  I  could  I  went  down  to  see  him,  if  only 
for  an  hour  or  two ;  and  when  his  wife  was  admitted 
to  see  him  it  was  plain  that  their  communings  were 
with  God. 

Time  passed ;  not  a  sign  of  any  humiliating  giving 
way  to  the  manner  in  which  he  was  treated;  he 
was  above  that.  He  suffered,  but  was  willing  to 
suffer  in  the  cause  of  the  people  who  had  given  him 
their  confidence  and  who  still  loved  and  admired 
and  wept  for  the  man  that  so  nobly  represented  the 
cause  which  in  their  hearts  they  considered  right 
and  constitutional. 

A  USELESS  APPEAL  TO  STANTON. 

His  health  began  to  be  affected.  The  officers  of 
the  fortress  all  felt  that  he  ought  to  have  the  liberty 
of  the  fort,  not  only  because  that  could  in  no  way 
facilitate  any  attempt  to  escape,  but  because  they 
knew  he  did  not  wish  to  escape.  He  wanted  to  be 
tried  and  defend  and  justify  his  course.  I  happened 


"MY  DEAD  HEKO."  239 

to  be  in  Washington  for  a  few  hours  at  that  time, 
and  as  I  had  been  told  by  Rev.  Dr.  Hall  more  than 
once  that  Mr.  Stanton  spoke  of  me  very  kindly,  he 
encouraged  me  to  see  him  about  any  matter  I 
thought  proper  in  Mr.  Davis'  case. 

1  went  to  see  Mr.  Stanton.  He  had  recently  lost 
his  son  and  had  been  deeply  distressed — softened  one 
would  think ;  I  hoped  so.  I  was  admitted. 

A  bow  and  nothing  more. 

I  began  by  expressing  my  thanks  to  him  for  al 
lowing  me  to  visit  Mr.  Davis,  and  that  as  I  was  in 
town,  I  thought  it  would  not  be  uninteresting  to  him 
to  hear  a  report  about  Mr.  Davis. 

Not  a  word  in  reply. 

I  gradually  approached  the  subject  of  Mr.  Davis' 
health,  and  that  without  the  least  danger  of  any 
kind  as  to  his  safe  imprisonment  he  might  enjoy 
some  privileges,  especially  the  liberty  of  the  fort,  or 
there  was  danger  of  his  health  failing. 

The  silence  was  broken. 

"It  makes  no  difference  what  the  state  of  the 
health  of  Jeff  Davis  is.  His  trial  will  soon  come  on, 
no  doubt.  Time  enough  till  that  settles  it." 

It  settled  it  in  my  leaving  the  presence  of  that 
man. 

BAILED. 

But  the  time  came  for  his  release.  The  way  he 
conducted  himself  just  showed  the  man,  whom  no 


240  KEMINISCENCES  OF  JEFFEKSON  DAVIS. 

distress  could  put  down  nor  a  glimpse  of  hope  could 
unduly  excite.  He  had  seen  too  much  and  had 
placed  his  all  in  higher  hands  than  man's. 

We  brought  him  to  the  Spotswood  and  then  to 
the  custom-house.  There  the  trial  was  to  take 
place.  We  were  in  a  carriage,  the  people,  and  espe 
cially  the  colored  people,  testifying  their  sympathy. 
Mr.  Davis  was  greatly  touched  by  this. 

All  know  that  the  proceedings  in  court  were  very 
brief. 

Mr.  Davis  stood  erect,  looking  steadily  upon  the 
judge,  but  without  either  defiance  or  fear.  He 
was  bailed,  and  the  first  man  to  go  on  his  bond  was 
Horace  Greeley. 

Our  carriage  passed  with  difficulty  through  the 
crowd  of  rejoicing  negroes  with  their  tender  affec 
tion,  climbing  up  on  the  carriage,  shaking  and  kiss 
ing  his  hand,  and  calling  out,  "God  bless  Mars 
Davis."  But  we  got  safely  to  the  Spotswood. 

We  found  Mrs.  Davis  awaiting  us,  and  the  Hon. 
George  Davis,  Attorney-General  of  the  last  Cabinet, 
and  a  few  others. 

Mr.  George  Davis  and  I  just  fell  into  each  other's 
arms  with  tears  in  our  eyes. 

THANKSGIVING. 

But  Mr.  Davis  turned  to  me  :  "  Mr.  Minnigerode, 
you  have  been  with  me  in  my  sufferings,  and  com- 


JEFFERSON  DAVIS. 
(Taken  just  after  his  release  from  prison.) 


"MY  DEAD  HERO."  241 

forted  and  strengthened  me  with  your  prayers,  is  it 
not  right  that  we  now  once  more  should  kneel  down 
together  and  return  thanks  ?  " 

There  was  not  a  dry  eye  in  the  room. 

Mrs.  Davis  led  the  way  into  the  adjoining  room, 
more  private ;  and  there,  in  the  deeply-felt  prayer 
and  thanksgiving,  closed  the  story  of  Jefferson  Davis' 
prison  life. 

His  end  has  come  and  silence  reigns  over  his 
grave.  But  I  cannot  close  without  referring  to  Mr. 
Davis'  home  life,  just  in  a  few  words,  for  delicate  re 
gard  for  the  feelings  of  the  living,  forbids  me  to  draw 
the  vail  from  that  sacred  spot.  It  was  a  bright, 
happy  home,  in  the  midst  of  our  trials  and  dangers. 
He  shone  there  in  his  best  light,  his  gentle,  court 
eous,  loving  character,  sustained  by  the  truest  wife 
in  all  his  trials  and  sorrows,  sharing  them  and  bear 
ing  them  with  a  constancy  and  loving  bravery,  such 
as  is  the  glorious  privilege  of  womanhood.  Where- 
ever  the  memory  of  the  "  dead  hero  "  is  revived  in 
the  hearts  of  his  people,  there  stands  beside  him, 
and  will  ever  be  loved  and  honored  that  noble  wo 
man,  the  wife  of  Jefferson  Davis. 


16 


AN  AMERICAN  TO  BE  PROUD  OF. 

BY   COL.    CHARLES   MARSHALL, 
Member  of  General  R.  E.  Lee's  Staff. 

THE  last  time  I  saw  Mr.  Davis  was  at  a  memorial 
meeting  in  Kichmond  in  honor  of  his  distin 
guished  associate,  Robert  E.  Lee,  and  to-night  is 
the  first  opportunity  I  have  had  of  giving  voice  to  my 
undying  respect  and  veneration  for  him.  I  wish  to 
say  something  to  defend  him  from  the  assaults  made 
upon  him,  and  to  vindicate  his  right  to  the  place 
he  holds  in  the  hearts  of  the  Southern  people,  and 
which  he  will  hold  as  long  as  a  Southern  heart  beats. 
The  course  of  the  Federal  Government  toward 
Mr.  Davis  has  caused  him  to  become  the  representa 
tive  of  the  people  of  the  Confederate  States,  and  of 
those  who  held  their  views,  in  a  much  broader  sense 
than  he  might  otherwise  have  been.  The  people  of 
the  South,  while  agreeing  in  the  main  in  assigning 
to  Mr.  Davis  the  foremost  place  among  Confederate 
statesmen,  and  without  dissent  assigning  to  him  the 
first  rank  as  a  patriot,  a  pure  and  disinterested 
leader  and  a  fearless  representative  of  their  princi 
ples,  differed  in  their  opinion  as  to  the  general  policy 
of  the  Confederate  Government  under  his  adminis 
tration.  But  the  sight  of  Mr.  Davis  in  chains,  and 
242 


AN  AMERICAN  TO  BE  PROUD  OF.  243 

pursued  with  all  the  inventions  of  envy,  hatred  and 
malice,  and  all  uncharitableness  effaced  these  differ 
ences,  and  the  Southern  people  accepted  him  with 
one  consent  as  the  representative  of  their  cause. 

Thus  it  came  to  pass  that  the  policy  of  the  Fed 
eral  Government  more  than  anything  else  helped  to 
keep  in  the  memory  of  the  people  the  exciting  sub 
jects  connected  with  the  war,  and  to  minister  to  the 
fierce  and  vindictive  passions  that  the  war  had  kin 
dled.  The  Northern  people  came  to  regard  Mr.  Da 
vis  most  unjustly  as  a  political  sinner  above  all  other 
sinners,  and  to  the  people  of  the  South  he  became 
more  fully  than  he  had  been  during  the  war,  and 
more  fully,  perhaps,  than  he  would  have  been  under 
different  circumstances  after  the  war,  the  representa 
tive  of  Southern  views,  of  Southern  opinion  and  of 
Southern  regret. 

On  the  one  hand,  the  imprisonment  of  Mr.  Davis, 
the  threat  of  an  ignominious  death,  the  false  charges 
made  against  him,  the  vile  calumnies  heaped  upon 
him,  turned  upon  him  the  full  force  of  Northern  pre 
judice  and  passion.  On  the  other  hand,  his  sufferings, 
his  persecution,  and  above  all  his  high  and  unshaken 
courage,  turned  toward  him  the  ardent  sympathy 
and  love  of  his  generous  fellow-citizens  of  the  South. 

As  we  stand  to-day  beside  his  open  grave  it  can 
not  be  inappropriate  to  consider  for  a  moment  the 
title  of  Mr.  Davis  to  the  place  that  he  holds  in  the 


244  KEMINISCENCES  OF  JEFFEKSON  DAVIS. 

hearts  and  minds  of  the  Southern  people,  and  in 
passing  to  inquire  whether  the  judgment  against  him 
pronounced  by  almost  all  the  people  of  the  North  is 
warranted  by  the  facts. 

From  the  beginning  of  those  unhappy  days  of 
blood  and  strife  it  has  been  the  custom  of  Northern 
speakers  and  writers  to  represent  the  people  of  the 
South  as  having  been  led  astray  by  their  political 
leaders,  and  to  have  undertaken  to  destroy  the  old 
Union  and  to  create  an  independent  government  for 
themselves  under  some  sort  of  compulsion,  and  to 
speak  of  Mr.  Davis  as  the  leader.  Nothing  could 
be  further  from  the  truth.  If  ever  there  was  a 
spontaneous  movement  of  any  people,  that  of  the 
Southern  people  became  such  a  movement  when  the 
proclamation  of  President  Lincoln,  of  April  16, 
1861,  presented  the  real  issue  to  their  astonished 
view.  That  proclamation  and  the  hostile  measures 
toward  the  South  which  quickly  followed  it  forced 
the  most  reluctant  to  admit  to  themselves  what  they 
had  long  refused  to  believe — that  the  real  issue  be 
tween  the  people  of  the  South  and  those  into  whose 
hands  the  control  of  federal  power  had  fallen  involved 
the  continued  existence  of  constitutional  government 
for  the  States  of  the  South,  indeed,  for  all  the  States, 
and  the  maintenance  of  rights  older  than  the  Consti 
tution,  older  than  the  Union,  and  higher  and  more 
sacred  than  either  the  Union  or  the  Constitution. 


AN  AMERICAN  TO  BE  PROUD  OF.  245 

In  such  an  emergency  and  with  such  vital  inter 
ests  at  stake,  they  greatly  mistake  the  character  of 
the  Southern  people  who  suppose  that  they  needed 
to  be  led  or  driven  to  meet  the  advancing  storm  of 
battle  as  it  rolled  down  upon  them.  It  is  safe  to  say 
that  up  to  the  middle  of  April,  1862,  the  greater 
part  of  the  preparations  for  war  had  been  made  by 
the  States,  or  by  the  spontaneous  action  of  the  peo 
ple  themselves.  It  will  thus  be  seen  that  so  far  is  it 
from  the  truth  that  Mr.  Davis  was  in  any  sense  the 
author  or  leader  of  the  secession  movement^  he  was 
selected  by  the  people  as  best  fitted  by  his  ability, 
.his  experience,  his  fidelity  to  principle,  his  tried 
courage  and  his  exalted  character  to  lead  a  move 
ment  of  the  people  in  a  time  of  imminent  public 
danger. 

It  is  as  the  trusted  leader  in  the  cause  I  have  de 
scribed  that  Mr.  Davis  possessed  and  deserved,  in  the 
midst  of  the  most  arduous  labors,  the  most  perplex 
ing  cares,  the  greatest  dangers,  the  sorest  trials,  the 
love  and  confidence  of  the  great  body  of  the  South 
ern  people,  including  the  most  eminent  commanders 
of  their  armies,  and  it  is  as  such  a  leader  in  such  a 
cause  that  he  has  this  day  gone  to  his  grave  followed 
by  the  undying  gratitude  and  veneration  of  all  for 
whom  he  endured  and  dared  so  much.  There  is 
nothing  in  his  life  and  history  to  impair  his  title  to 
that  gratitude  and  veneration.  If  it  be  treason  to 


246  KEMINISCENCES  OF  JEFFERSON  DAVIS. 

prefer  constitutional  liberty  and  those  rights  which 

are  as  the  breath  of  life  to  men  of  our  race  to  terri- 

i 

torial  greatness  and  material  wealth,  then  Mr.  Davis 
was  a  traitor,  and  so,  please  God,  may  every  Ameri 
can  be  whenever  that  constitutional  liberty  and 
those  ancient  rights  shall  be  again  put  in  jeopardy 
by  enemies  at  home  or  abroad.  In  his  life  and  pub 
lic  services  before  the  war  there  is  everything  to 
make  us  proud  of  our  dead  leader. 

If  devotion  to  the  public  service,  stainless  integ 
rity,  great  capacity  for  affairs  and  spotless  purity  of 
life  can  entitle  a  public  man  to  respect  and  esteem, 
the  career  of  Mr.  Davis  while  connected  with  the 
government  of  the  United  States,  whether  as  a  sol 
dier  or  statesman,  is  an  example  which  no  friend  of 
his  country  would  like  to  have  neglected  or  forgotten. 

I  have  called  your  attention  to  one  or  two  only  of 
the  reasons  why  we  reverence  the  memory  of  Mr. 
Davis.  With  his  death  all  prejudice  should  pass 
away — in  his  grave  should  be  buried  all  animosities, 
and  by  the  side  of  that  grave  all  men  should  take  a 
vow  that  in  the  service  of  the  Government  and  the 
Union  they  will  bring  cheerfully  and  gladly,  as  far 
as  lies  in  their  power,  the  fidelity,  the  truth,  the 
faith,  the  courage  and  the  endurance  of  him  whose 
name  we  are  here  to-night  to  honor.  Who  is  there 
that  is  not  proud  to  be  the  countryman  of  such  a 
man,  who  was  faithful  to  the  last  ?  " 


ADDRESS  AND  TRIBUTE  * 


BY  GENERAL  FITZHUGH 
Governor  of  Virginia. 

WHEN   the   messenger   of    Death,   flying    with 
electric  wing  from  the  "  Crescent  City  "  to 
Virginia's  capital,  brought  to  us  his  recent 
sad  tidings,  the  hand  of  mourning  touched  the  heart 
strings  of  our  people,  and  they  are   still  vibrating 
with  genuine  grief  to  the  accompanying  voice  of  the 
mother  Commonwealth  —  "How   hath    the   mighty 
fallen." 

A  PICTURE  OF  OUR  SORROW. 

Aye,  a  shadow  has  been  cast  over  our  plains  and 
valleys  ;  our  rivers  roll  troubled  to  the  sea  ;  the 
covering  cloak  of  gloom  has  *o'erspread  our  towns 
and  cities  ;  sorrow's  cloud  has  tipped  our  mountain- 
tops.  Virginia  weeps  for  Jefferson  Davis  !  How 
appropriate  is  her  lamentation  !  Bound  as  she  has 
been  to  constitutional  government  from  the  early 

*  In  response  to  our  request  that  he  prepare  an  article  specially  for  this 
book,  General  Lee  writes  that  he  regrets,  on  account  of  numerous  engage 
ments,  that  it  would  be  impossible  for  him  to  prepare  anything  in  time, 
but  he  kindly  sends  us  the  address,  with  some  changes  and  additions, 
which  he  delivered  in  the  Academy  of  Music,  Richmond,  Va.,  on  Decem 
ber  21st,  1889,  at  a  meeting  held  to  induce  Mrs.  Davis  to  select  Richmond 
as  the  final  burial-place  of  Mr.  Davis.  PUBLISHERS. 

247 


248  REMINISCENCES  OF  JEFFERSON  DAVIS. 

formation  of  the  republic  by  the  sword  of  Washing 
ton,  the  pen  of  Jefferson,  the  voice  of  Henry,  the 
wisdom  of  Mason,  and  the  efforts  of  Madison,  in  and 
out  of  the  Federal  Convention  that  constructed  the 
Constitution,  and  mixed  with  the  very  marrow  of 
her  bones  is  the  knowledge  that  in  constructing  that 
instrument  in  Philadelphia,  in  a  body  presided  over 
by  one  of  her  sons,  and  in  its  ratification  by  her 
afterwards,  there  was  no  denial  of  her  right  to  with 
draw  from  the  Union  then  formed  when  she  should 
decide  to  do  so ;  and  believing,  too,  in  that  sentence 
of  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  drafted  by 
another  son,  that  it  is  the  right  of  the  people  "  to 
alter  or  abolish  any  form  of  government"  that 
becomes,  in  their  opinion,  destructive  to  "life, 
liberty,  and  the  pursuit  of  happiness,"  and  "  institute 
a  new  government,"  Virginia  was  in  thorough  ac 
cord  with  the  constitutional  construction  of  which 
Mr.  Davis  was  so  conspicuous  a  defender. 

It  was  easy  then  in  those  days  of  '61,  for  Virginia 
to  exclaim,    "Whither  thou  goest   I   will    go,   and 
where  thou  lodgest  I  will  lodge  ;  thy  people  shall  be 
my  people,  and  thy  God  my  God !  " 
• 

WE  WERE  HIS  PEOPLE. 

To-night  this  splendid  assemblage,  in  gathering  to 
pay  homage  to  his  memory,  speaks  in  no  uncertain 
tones  to  the  country  that  our  people  to  the  end  were 


rAN  ADDRESS  AND  TRIBUTE.  249 

his  people,  and  that  the  God  who  looks  down  from 
His  throne  of  mercy  beyond  the  blue  dome  above, 
and  binds  up  the  broken  hearts  of  the  sorrowing  wife 
and  children,  is  the  same  God  to  whom  we  bow  in 
humble  submission  to  this  exercise  of  His  divine 
will. 

WHY  SHE  HONORS  HIM. 

Do  you  ask  me  if  Virginia  honors  Davis  ?  Ask 
her  if  she  admires  courage  in  a  soldier,  patriotism  in 
a  representative,  conscientiousness  in  a  Cabinet 
officer,  integrity  in  a  senator,  fearless  fidelity  in  a 
ruler,  and  unaffected  piety  in  all  that  constitutes 
a  Christian  gentleman ! 

If  Kentucky  produced  this  hero,  we  do  not  forget 
that  she  was  the  daughter  of  Virginia.  If  Missis 
sippi  was  his  adopted  State,  we  remember  she  is 
Virginia's  sister,  chained  to  her  by  the  loving  links 
of  a  mighty  past,  bound  by  the  holy  memories  of 
the  present,  and  united  heart  to  heart  in  the  great 
future  unrolling  before  us. 

WITHOUT  BOUNDS. 

As  Dr.  Hoge  so  eloquently  expressed  it  on  our 
memorial  day,  "  there  should  be  no  geographical 
boundaries  to  the  qualities  which  constitute  noble 
manhood."  "  In  seven-fold  glory  Hope  spans  the 
arch  of  Heaven,  and  weaves  chaplets  for  the  tomb," 
says  another.  Let  that  same  Hope  leap  geographi- 


250  EEMIXISCENCES  OF  JEFFEESON  DAVIS- 

cal  limits,  and  teach  the  American  people  to  admire 
an  American  who  measured  up  to  the  full  height  of 
all  that  constitutes  a  noble  man. 

HIS  SEEVICES  TO  THE  COUNTEY. 

Cannot  the  North,  South,  East,  and  West  remem 
ber  him  when,  as  an  officer  of  dragoons,  his  life  was 
freely  exposed  for  his  country  in  the  Indian  wars  ? 
Is  not  the  heart  of  the  whole  republic  big  enough 
to  throb  with  pride  when  the  picture  is  presented  of 
his  charging  at  the  head  of  his  Mississippians,  and 
planting,  amid  a  storm  of  shot  and  shell,  the  Stars 
and  Stripes  on  the  grand  plaza  of  Monterey  ?  Can 
not  his  fame  be  trumpeted  as  an  inheritance  to  all 
sections  when  he  is  portrayed  bursting  with  fiery 
fury  through  the  Mexican  Lancers  at  Buena  Yista, 
carrying  proudly  to  victory  the  star-spangled  banner, 
when  he  reddened  the  burning  sands  of  old  Mexico 
with  his  blood  ? 

Does  not  all  this,  to  use  Mr.  Davis'  very  words  in 
referring  to  the  battles  of  the  Revolution,  "  form  a 
monument  to  the  common  glory  of  our  common 
country  ?  " 

Did  not  his  splendid  administration  of  the  port 
folio  of  war  in  Franklin  Pierce's  Cabinet  redound  to 
the  credit  and  renown  of  the  United  States  ? 

Was  not  his  advocacy  and  introduction  of  new 
systems  of  tactics,  iron  gun-carriages,  rifle-muskets 


ADDRESS  AND  TRIBUTE.  251 

and  pistols,  as  well  as  the  "  Minnie  ball,"  and  the 
strengthening  of  the  defences  on  the  sea-coast  and 
frontier,  productive  of  benefit  to  the  whole  republic? 

SECTIONAL  HATE  SHOULD  PERISH. 

Perish,  then,  the  sectional  hate  in  the  narrow 
mind  of  the  mover  of  the  resolution  that  he  alone 
should  be  excluded  from  the  benefits  of  the  Mexican 
pension  act,  for  well  could  Mr.  Davis  reply  to  him 
as  Uncle  Toby  said  to  the  fly,  "  Go,  little  wretch, 
there  is  room  in  the  world  for  you  and  I." 

Away,  too,  forever,  with  the  pitiful  prejudice  in 
the  heart  of  the  man  who  ordered  his  name  to  be 
chiselled  from  the  stone  which  commemorated  his 
successful  efforts  in  erecting  a  bridge  across  the  Po 
tomac  above  Washington.  What  matters  it  now  to 
the  people  of  the  South,  if,  after  all  he  did  to  pro 
mote  the  glory  of  the  United  States,  that  there  is 
not  magnanimity  enough  left  to  conform  to  the  usual 
custom  of  putting  at  half-mast  the  flag  over  the 
department  of  the  government  he  did  so  much  to 
adorn,  so  long  as  the  flag  of  their  affection  floats  so 
high  above  such  action,  and  is  so  richly  draped  in 
the  habiliments  of  mourning  at  his  death  ? 

PASSION  DISPELS  REASON. 

I  know  when  the  passions  of  men  are  inflamed 
reason  departs ;  I  know  amid  the  clash  of  arms  the 
laws  are  silent ;  I  know  when  blood  is  spilt  human 


252  REMINISCENCES  OF  JEFFERSON  DAVIS. 

hyenas  roar ;  but  does  all  this  prevent  a  civilized 
world  from  shuddering  at  the  recital  of  the  horrors 
of  the  inquisition  or  the  terrors  of  the  French  Revo 
lution  ? 

I  pray  that  the  curtain  of  oblivion  may  be  rung 
down  to  prevent  future  ages,  when  looking  upon  the 
great  four-year  drama  of  the  past,  from  seeing  the 
blood- stain  upon  the  shield  of  a  great  government, 
placed  there  in  the  nineteenth  century  by  the  hands 
of  a  few  men,  some  of  whom,  if  reports  are  true, 
have  already  been  visited  by  the  power  of  an  aveng 
ing  God.  But  so  long  as  the  sun  rolls  on  in  flaming 
splendor,  bringing  to  light  the  innumerable  mys 
teries  of  life  ;  so  long  as  the  moon  gilds  the  grassy 
slope  and  the  wild  ravine  ;  so  long  as  there  is  a  rest^ 
less  sea,  and  the  stars  of  heaven  guide  the  traveler 
on  his  way,  so  long  will  the  finer  feelings  of  noble 
women  and  brave  men  quiver  with  shame  when  the 
finger  of  past  history  points  to  the  murder  of  Wirtz  ; 
the  suspension  of  an  innocent  woman  in  mid-air, 
when  the  rope  was  closing  around  the  neck  of  Mrs. 
Surratt ;  and  to  that  memorable  23d  of  May,  1865, 
when  the  cold,  rough,  rattling  iron  shackles  were 
placed  upon  the  limbs  of  Jefferson  Davis. 

MR  VDAVIS'  IMPRISONMENT. 

The  sea  of  oblivion   cannot  wash  out  that  scene 
in  the  underground  casemate  at   Fortress  Monroe, 


ADDRESS  AXD  TRIBUTE.  253 

nor  can  the  ears  shut  out  the  voice  as  he  exclaimed, 
"  My  God !  You  cannot  have  been  sent  to  bind  me  ! 
The  war  is  over.  I  have  no  longer  any  country  but 
America,  and  it  is  for  the  honor  of  America  that  I 
plead  against  this  degradation.  Kill  me,  kill  me, 
rather  than  inflict  on  my  people  through  me  this 
insult."  Sorry  am  I  for  the  soldier  who  had  to  obey 
his  orders,  but  may  God  forgive  the  man  who  issued 
them.  I  never  can  ! 

ANOTHER  SCENE. 

But  let  us  change  the  scene.  It  is  the  next  day, 
and  Washington,  the  capital  city  of  the  United 
States,  is  in  holiday  attire.  Two  hundred  thousand 
armed  men  are  marching  in  review  before  the  Chief 
Magistrate  of  the  republic.  Conquering  banners  are 
fluttering  in  the  sunlight  of  peace  ;  bayonets  no  lon 
ger  bristle  ;  the  rifle's  barrel  is  empty  ;  the  point  of 
the  sword  is  turned  to  the  scabbard  ;  the  hearts  of 
bronzed  and  brave  veterans  beat  with  happiness  at 
the  thought  of  the  old  mother  at  the  family  fireside, 
whose  lips  were  already  trembling  to  greet  the  sol 
dier  son's  safe  return  from  the  war ;  peace  and  joy 
reign  in  Washington  !  Go  to  your  homes,  Oh,  sol 
diers  of  the  Union  ;  there  is  an  undivided  country 
stretching  from  lake  to  gulf,  from  ocean  to  ocean. 
Tell  your  people  of  the  brave  men  who  were  foemen 
worthy  of  your  steel  upon  the  blood-stained  fields  of 


254  REMINISCENCES  OF  JEFFERSON  DAVIS. 

conflict,  who  fought  and  lost  without  sacrificing  their 
own  honor  or  your  self-respect.  But  whisper  it  low 
that  the  revenge  of  Government  has  been  settled 
upon  the  one  man  who  at  that  hour  lay  guarded  by 
sentinels  within  his  prison  doors  and  by  soldiers  on 
the  watch-towers  without,  but  whose  courage  was  so 
lofty  that  the  harsh  clank  of  the  chain  broke  against 
it  in  vain. 

There  were  many  in  the  ranks  of  those  heavy  bat 
talions  even  at  that  time  who  would  have  averted 
such  treatment  to  a  prisoner  of  war  if  they  could 
have  done  so. 

CHARGED  WITH  HERESY  AND  TREASON. 

But  once  again,  let  us  change  the  scene.  Stand 
forth  for  trial,  Jefferson  Davis.  Upon  your  shoulder 
alone  shall  be  placed  a  violated  Constitution,  the 
heresy  of  secession,  and  the  ruby  garment  of  treason. 
Let  the  victim  be  brought  forth  and  let  him  have 
the  form  of  a  trial,  and  then  let  him  die  the  death  of 
a  traitor.  And  lo !  there  he  stands,  clothed  in  the 
full  robes  of  his  Confederate  faith,  for  no  one  knows 
better  than  he  where  the  powers  of  the  General 
Government  should  end  and  the  reserved  rights  of 
the  States  begin.  But  the  trial  must  proceed,  for  an 
hundred  thousand  dollars  of  blood-money  had  been 
offered  for  his  head,  and  posterity  must  be  taught 
that  treason  is  odious  and  punishable  with  death. 
The  party  in  power  in  the  United  States  Senate  and 


ADDRESS  AND  TRIBUTE.  255 

House  of  Representatives  were  eager  and  impatient, 
and  on  the  25th  day  of  September,  1865,  called,  by 
resolution,  on  the  President,  to  know  what  was  the 
matter.  The  reports  of  the  Secretary  of  War  and 
the  Attorney-General  were  submitted,  stating  that 
while  Virginia  was  the  proper  place  to  hold  the 
court,  it  was  not  possible  then  to  hold  a  peaceable 
United  States  court  there,  and  Chief-Justice  Chase 
said  he  would  not  hold  court  in  a  district  under 
martial  law. 

AN  UNWILLINGNESS  TO  PROSECUTE. 

Later  on,  on  the  10th  of  April,  1866,  the  Judiciary 
Committee  of  the  House  thought  there  was  no  reason 
why  the  trial  should  not  be  at  once  proceeded  with, 
and  on  the  8th  of  May,  1866,  a  grand  jury  of  the 
United  States  at  Norfolk — Judge  Underwood  pre 
siding — found  an  indictment  for  treason.  On  the 
5th  of  June,  at  the  session  of  the  court  held  there, 
Mr.  Davis's  counsel  begged  that  he  be  tried  without 
delay,  but  the  Government,  it  is  said,  was  not  ready. 
A  year  afterwards  he  was  admitted  to  bail,  and  in 
December,  1868,  a  nolle  prosequi  was  entered. 

NO  LAW  TO  CONVICT. 

Why  this  unwillingness  to  prosecute?  Ah,  my 
countrymen,  would  I  could  say  it  proceeded  from  a 
forgiving  Christian  spirit  in  the  bosom  of  those  in 
power,  but  the  stern  cold  facts  tell  us  it  was  because 


256  KEMINISCENCES  OF  JEFFERSON  DAVIS. 

the  Government  did  not  dare  to  test  the  case  before 
a  court  of  justice,  for  there  is  not  a  single  line  in  the 
Constitution  of  the  United  States  which  prohibits 
the  withdrawal  of  a  State  from  the  American  Union, 
and  there  were  still  enough  jurists  learned  in  the 
law  and  constitutional  lawyers  profound  in  the  con 
struction  of  the  Government  left  in  the  land  to  say 
so.  And  yet  Mr.  Davis  never  was  a  secessionist 
per  se,  but  resigned  his  seat  in  the  Senate  reluctantly, 
hoping  to  the  last  that  peace,  not  war,  would  be  the 
country's  fate.  Indeed  in  his  first  message  to  the 
Confederate  Congress  he  spoke  of  secession  as  a  ne 
cessity,  not  a  choice. 

THE  GOVERNOR'S  PERORATION. 

Such  is  the  man.  Ladies  and  gentlemen,  the 
capital  city  of  the  Confederacy  remembers  this  even 
ing.  For  four  years  he  was  a  familiar  figure  on  our 
streets,  in  his  executive  office,  and  on  horseback  as 
he  rode  around  the  lines  of  fire  then  circling  the  city. 

When  the  ship  of  the  new  republic  was  launched 
he  was  called  to  the  command  and  was  with  her 
"  rocked  in  the  cradle  of  the  deep."  Storms  of  war 
burst  upon  her  deck  before  her  machinery  was  even 
put  in  motion ;  but  through  the  thunder's  roar,  when 
the  cordage  was  rent,  when  the  breakers  were  dash 
ing  against  her,  when  despair  was  visible  upon  the 
faces  of  some  of  the  crew,  and  when  she  began  to 
settle  and  sink  amid  the  lurid  flashing  of  the  light- 


ADDRESS  AND  TRIBUTE.  257 

ning,  the  captain  was  seen  standing  calm,  heroic, 
resolute,  grand  in  all  the  glory  of  a  man,  grasping 
with  a  firm  hand  the  helm  as  she  sank  down,  down, 
in  the  sea  of  eternity. 

Within  the  bosom  of  Virginia  repose  the  ashes  of 
great  men  whose  lips  and  lives  have  taught  us  to 
love  the  Commonwealth. 

She  proudly  numbers  the  graves  of  Presidents 
of  the  Republic.  The  Father  of  his  country  lies 
buried  where  the  majestic  Potomac  sweeps  in  grace 
ful  curve  upon  the  shores  of  Mt.Vernon. 

The  grave  of  the  distinguished  author  of  the 
"  Declaration  of  Independence  "  is  found  where  the 
Little  Mountain  rears  its  proud  head  from  the  beauti 
ful  plains  of  Albemarle.  The  Sage  of  Montpelier, 
"  the  father  of  the  Constitution,"  is  resting  quietly  at 
its  old  homestead,  while  the  remains  of  two  others 
lie  in  beautiful  Hollywood,  near  this  city,  where  the 
waters  of  the  James  musically  rolling  from  rock  to 
rock  are  forever  murmuring  an  eternal  requiem. 

Virginia,  holding  in  her  loving  embrace  the  sacred 
graves  of  five  Presidents  of  the  United  States,  opens 
wide  her  arms,  and  asks  that  she  may  be  permitted 
to  guard  the  last  resting-place  of  the  President  of 
the  Confederate  States. 

Here  let  the  soldier  sleep  whose  sword  flashes  no 
longer  in  the  forefront  of  battle. 

Here  let  the  orator  be  buried  upon  whose  lips 
17 


258  BEMINISCENCES  OF  JEFFEKSON  DAVIS. 

audiences  were  once  suspended  magically  as  if  by 
golden  chains. 

Here  let  the  statesman  rest,  watched  over  and 
guarded  by  the  city  that  ever  received  his  loving 
attention. 

Here  let  the  chieftain  be  brought  and  buried  in 
May,  when  a  monument  is  to  be  unveiled  to  one  of 
his  army  commanders,  when  Nature  spreads  her 
carpet  of  green,  when  in  the  aisles  of  the  orchard  the 
blossoms  are  drifting  and  "  the  tulip's  pale  stalk  in 
the  garden  is  lifting  a  goblet  of  gems  to  the  sun." 
And  here  too  let  us  erect  a  monument  that  will 
stand  in  lofty  and  lasting  attestation  to  tell  our  chil 
dren's  children  of  our  love  for  the  memory  of  Jeffer 
son  Davis. 


REMINISCENCES 

BY  UNITED  STATES  SENATOR  REAGAN, 
Member  of  the  Davis  Cabinet. 

I  HAVE  had  a  personal  acquaintance  with  Mr. 
Davis  for  thirty-two  years.  I  have  known  him 
in  the  domestic  circle  as  the  most  genial  and 
lovable  man  I  ever  knew.  I  have  been  with  him 
around  the  council  board  and  witnessed  the  great 
care  and  ability  with  which  he  considered  great 
public  questions.  I  have  been  with  him  on  the  bat 
tle-field,  and  have  seen  the  calm  courage  with  which 
he  faced  the  chances  of  death.  I  have  been  with 
him  in  the  hours  of  victory  and  of  triumph,  and 
never  saw  him  unduly  elated.  I  have  been  with 
him  in  defeat  and  disaster,  and  never  saw  him  un 
duly  depressed.  The  people  he  served  respected  him 
for  his  virtues  and  integrity.  They  admired  him  for 
his  ability  and  devotion  to  duty  and  to  them.  They 
reverenced  him  for  the  grandeur  and  nobility  of  his 
character.  And  they  mourn  his  death  with  un 
feigned  sorrow. 

The  public  had  the  impression  that  Mr.  Davis  was 
an  austere  and  arbitrary  man,  when  just  the  reverse 
was  the  case.  He  had  two  characters — one  for  pub 
lic  affairs  and  one  for  his  personal  and  private  rela- 

259 


260  REMINISCENCES  OF  JEFFERSON  DAVIS. 

tions.  He  was  not  hasty  at  forming  conclusions,  and 
was  ever  ready  to  receive  suggestions  from  his 
friends  and  political  advisers.  I  remember  well  the 
first  Cabinet  meeting  I  attended.  Mr.  Davis  then 
informed  his  advisers  that  he  wanted  us  to  be  as 
frank  with  him  as  he  would  be  with  us.  In  the 
preparation  of  his  messages  to  Congress  he  invited 
the  fullest  and  freest  discussion  of  the  subjects 
treated.  I  remember  well  one  of  his  favorite  re 
marks,  and  that  was,  "If  a  paper  can't  stand  the 
criticism  of  its  friends,  it  will  be  in  a  bad  way  when 
it  gets  into  the  hands  of  its  enemies."  I  have 
always  remembered  that  remark,  because  it  has  fre 
quently  been  my  guide  in  matters  of  legislation. 

In  the  organization  of  the  various  departments 
under  the  Confederacy,  Mr.  Davis,  at  one  of  the 
Cabinet  meetings,  informed  us  that  we  would  be 
called  upon  to  select  the  men  whom  we  needed  to 
assist  us,  and  he  would  appoint  them.  But  he  im 
pressed  upon  us  the  fact  that  we  would  be  held  re 
sponsible  for  the  conduct  and  efficiency  of  the  ap 
pointees.  Mr,  Davis  was  a  civil  service  reformer  in 
a, certain  sense.  He  was  firm  in  his  conclusions  and 
patient  in  his  investigations.  In  his  domestic  life 
he  was  amiable  and  gentle,  but  in  official  life  he 
knew  no  word  but  duty.  I  remember  very  well  our 
last  formal  Cabinet  meeting.  It  was  after  we  had 
left  Richmond,  and  were  traveling  through  the 


REMINISCENCES.  261 

southern  portion  of  North  Carolina.  It  was  just 
near  the  border  of  the  two  States,  North  and  South 
Carolina.  It  was  under  a  big  pine-tree  that  we 
stopped  to  take  some  lunch.  Mr.  Trenholm,  the 
Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  was  absent.  He  had 
been  taken  sick  at  Charlotte,  and  after  trying  to 
keep  up  with  us  for  about  twenty  miles  he  gave  out 
and  tendered  his  resignation.  The  resignation  of  Mr. 
Trenholm  was  discussed,  and  it  was  finally  accepted, 
and  I  was  selected  to  take  charge  of  his  office  in 
conjunction  with  that  of  Postmaster-General.  I  re 
member  on  that  occasion  Mr.  Davis  said,  when  I 
requested  to  be  relieved  from  that  additional  duty : 
"  You  can  look  after  that  without  much  trouble.  We 
have  concluded  that  there  is  not  much  for  the  Secre 
tary  of  the  Treasury  to  do,  and  there  is  but  little 
money  left  for  him  to  steal."  That  was  in  April, 
1865. 

Some  time  after  that  George  Davis,  the  Attorney- 
General,  asked  Mr.  Davis'  advice  about  retiring  from 
the  Cabinet.  The  Attorney-General  said  he  wanted 
to  stand  by  the  Confederacy,  but  his  family  and  his 
property  were  at  Wilmington,  and  he  was  in  doubt 
as  to  where  his  duty  called  him.  "  By  the  side  of 
your  family,"  promptly  responded  Mr.  Davis.  After 
the  Attorney-General  left  us  there  were  only  four 
members  of  the  Cabinet  left  to  continue  the  journey 
to  Washington,  Ga.,  which  was  our  destination.  We 


262  KEMINISCENCES  OF  JEFFERSON  DAVIS. 

put  up  at  Abbeville,  S.  C.,  for  the  night,  because  we 
were  informed  that  a  lot  of  Yankee  cavalry  were  in 
Washington,  Ga.  At  that  point  Benjamin  said  he 
proposed  to  leave  the  country  and  get  as  far  away 
from  the  United  States  as  possible.  Mr.  Davis  asked 
him  how  he  proposed  to  get  down  to  the  coast. 
"Oh,"  replied  Benjamin,  "there  is  a  distinguished 
Frenchman  whose  name  and  initials  are  the  same  as 
mine,  and  as  I  can  talk  a  little  French  I  propose  to 
pass  myself  off  as  the  French  Benjamin." 

While  passing  through  South  Carolina  I  was  par 
ticularly  struck  with  Mr.  Davis'  generosity.  We 
were  passing  a  little  cabin  on  the  road,  and  we 
stopped  to  get  a  drink  of  water.  A  woman,  poorly 
clad,  came  out  to  serve  us.  She  recognized  Mr. 
Davis,  and  informed  him  that  her  only  son  was 
named  after  him.  It  was  a  very  warm  day,  and  the 
cool  water  was  very  refreshing.  Mr.  Davis  took 
from  his  pocket  the  last  piece  of  coin  he  possessed 
and  gave  it  to  the  woman  and  told  her  to  give  it  to 
his  namesake.  At  our  next  stopping-place  we  com 
pared  our  cash  accounts,  and  Mr.  Davis  had  a  few 
Confederate  notes,  which  was  every  cent  of  money 
possessed  in  this  world. 

Mr.  Davis  was  one  of  the  few  men  who  measured 
the  full  force  of  the  war.  He  from  the  first  con 
tended  that  it  was  likely  to  last  a  number  of  years 
instead  of  a  few  months,  as  many  persons  predicted. 


REMINISCENCES.  263 

i 

It  was  at  first  proposed  to  enlist  an  army  of  two  or 
three  hundred  thousand  men  for  six  months,  for  by 
that  time  it  was  supposed  that  the  war  would  be 
over.  Mr.  Davis  promptly  disposed  of  that  sugges 
tion  by  declaring  that  it  would  take  at  least  a  year 
to  organize  an  efficient  army,  as  soldiers  could  not 
be  made  in  a  few  days.  He  said  it  would  be  wiser 
to  establish  a  smaller  army — one  that  we  could  af 
ford  to  arm  and  equip.  From  the  first  he  main 
tained  that  it  would  be  a  long  and  bloody  war,  but 
many  Southern  men  differed  with  him,  and  the  re 
sult  was  we  were  obliged  to  pass  that  terrible  act  of 
conscription  to  keep  our  men  in  the  service. 

There  is  another  question  that  I  wish  to  touch 
upon  in  this  connection.  I  have  frequently  referred 
to  the  question  of  his  disabilities,  and  we  have  dis 
cussed  the  subject  from  various  standpoints.  Invari 
ably  Mr.  Davis  declared  that  he  could  not  conscien 
tiously  ask  to  have  his  disabilities  removed,  for  he 
could  not  induce  himself  to  believe  that  he  had  'done 
wrong.  He  was  firm  in  his  convictions  on  that 
point,  and  nothing  could  move  him. 

Mr.  Davis  was  greatly  misjudged  in  many  ways. 
He  was  the  most  devout  Christian  I  ever  knew,  and 
the  most  self-sacrificing  man.  When  his  plantation 
was  in  danger  of  being  seized  and  the  property  de 
stroyed,  he  was  urged  by  friends  to  send  a  force  of 
men  to  protect  it.  "  The  President  of  the  Confeder- 


264  REMINISCENCES  OF  JEFFEKSON  DAVIS. 

• 

acy,"  he  responded,  "cannot  afford  to  use  public 
means  to  preserve  private  interests,  and  I  cannot 
employ  men  to  take  care  of  my  property."  And  so 
when  his  hill  property  in  Hinds  County  was  threat 
ened,  and  all  his  books  and  papers  were  in  danger  of 
destruction,  he  again  resisted  all  persuasions  of 
friends  to  have  them  protected. 

The  memory  of  his  services,  of  his  virtues,  and  of 
his  vicarious  sufferings  demand  this  alike  from  the 
Christian  sentiment  and  from  the  manhood  of  those 
he  served  so  faithfully.  And  it  is  matter  of  special 
gratification  that  the  general  tone  of  the  greater  part 
of  the  press  of  the  country,  North  and  South,  have 
treated  kindly  the  memory  of  this  illustrious  man. 

When  General  Grant  suffered  in  affliction,  the 
people  of  the  South  as  well  as  North  gave  him  their 
sincere  sympathy.  When  he  died  the  people  of  the 
South,  as  well  as  of  the  North,  mourned  his  death. 
The  same  feeling  of  respect  for  genius,  for  greatness 
and  for  worth,  and  the  same  feeling  of  Christian 
charity  for  the  dead,  and  of  sympathy  for  the  be 
reaved  who  survive,  has  shown  itself  North  as  well 
as  South  for  Mr.  Davis. 

This  is  as  it  should  be,  and  will  have  its  influence 
in  restoring  that  more  perfect  fraternity  of  feeling 
which  is  so  necessary  and  so  important  to  the  wel 
fare  and  happiness  of  the  whole  country. 

It  is  fitting  in  this  connection  that  I  should  add 


REMINISCENCES  265 

the  following  dispatch  and  letter,  published  in  the 
Washington  Star  of  December  12, 1889,  showing  Mr. 
Davis'  participation  in  this  feeling  of  charity  and  fra 
ternity  : 

A  CHARACTERISTIC  LETTER. 

When  General  Grant  was  dying  at  Mount  Mc 
Gregor  the  Boston  Globe  instructed  its  New  Orleans 
correspondent  to  interview  Jefferson  Davis.  Mr. 
Davis  was  not  seen  personally,  but  a  few  days  later 
he  penned  the  following  letter : 

"  DEAR  SIR— Your  request  in  behalf  of  a  Boston  journalist  for  me  to 
prepare  a  criticism  of  Gen.  Grant's  military  career  cannot  be  complied 
with  for  the  following  reasons : 

"  1.  Gen.  Grant  is  dying. 

"  2.  Though  he  invaded  our  country,  it  was  with  an  open  hand,  and,  as 
far  as  I  know,  lie  abetted  neither  arson  nor  pillage,  and  has  since  the  war, 
I  believe,  showed  no  malignity  to  Confederates  either  of  the  military  or 
civil  service. 

"  Therefore,  instead  of  seeking  to  disturb  the  quiet  of  his  closing  hours, 
I  would,  if  it  were  in  my  power,  contribute  to  the  peace  of  his  mind  and 
the  comfort  of  his  body. 

[Signed]  "  JEFFERSON  DAVIS." 

The  people  of  the  Southern  States  have  manifested 
their  deep  sorrow  for  the  death  of  Mr.  Davis  by  mes 
sages  of  condolence,  by  resolutions  of  public  meet 
ings,  by  the  action  of  municipal  governments,  by 
proclamations  of  mayors  of  cities  and  Governors  of 
States,  by  resolutions  of  legislative  assemblages,  by 
draping  public  and  private  buildings  in  mourning, 


266  KEMINISCENCES  OF  JEFFERSON  DAVIS. 

through  the  columns  of  the  newspapers,  by  appro 
priate  religious  services  throughout  the  South  on  the 
day  of  his  funeral,  and  by  the  suspension  of  all  busi 
ness  on  the  day  of  his  funeral. 

Such  honors  have  never  before  been  shown  to  the 
leader  of  a  lost  cause,  and  few  of  the  successful  he 
roes  of  the  world  have  ever  received  such  honors  as 
have  been  paid  to  the  memory  of  Mr.  Davis.  The 
hero  and  leader  of  a  lost  cause,  after  one  of  the  most 
stupendous  struggles  known  to  history,  denied  the 
right  of  citizenship,  powerless  to  confer  benefits  on 
others,  he  still  enjoyed  the  unbounded  respect  and 
confidence  and  love  and  gratitude  of  the  people  he 
served  with  so  much  ability  and  fidelity  and  courage. 
And  while  in  law  an  exile  among  the  people  who 
loved  him  so  much,  he  bore  imprisonment,  and 
chains,  and  deprivation  of  political  rights,  and  the 
bitter  denunciation  of  his  enemies,  with  a  manly  pa 
tience  and  Christian  fortitude  never  before  shown  by 
mortal  man  under  such  circumstances  except  in  the 
case  of  General  Robert  E.  Lee.  But  his  trials  and 
sufferings  were  greater  than  those  which  fell  upon 
our  great  general.  Hannibal,  the  great  Carthagenian 
general,  and  Napoleon,  the  conqueror  of  Europe, 
when  defeat  and  disaster  fell  upon  them,  complained 
much  of  their  misfortunes.  But  Jefferson  Davis  has 
borne  his  misfortunes  in  dignified  and  uncomplaining 
silence.  It  may  be  permitted  to  his  friends  to  say 


REMINISCENCES.  267 

that  in  every  position  he  filled  in  life,  his  fidelity 
commanded  respect  and  his  ability  compelled  admi 
ration;  whether  as  a  young  officer  of  the  United 
States  army,  as  a  successful  planter,  as  a  student  of 
the  sciences  during  the  years  of  his  retirement  from 
the  public  service,  as  a  member  of  the  United  States 
House  of  Representatives,  as  a  colonel  in  the  Mexi 
can  War  whose  genius  and  courage  won  the  victory 
of  Buena  Yista,  as  Secretary  of  War  in  perfecting 
the  organization  of  the  army  and  otherwise  improv 
ing  the  service,  in  directing  the  surveys  for  the  Pa 
cific  Railroad,  in  aiding  in  the  extension  of  the  wings 
of  the  national  Capitol  and  in  the  construction  of 
the  Smithsonian  Institution  and  constructing  the 
water-works  of  the  national  capital,  and  in  tlie  im 
provement  of  the  public  grounds  of  that  city ;  or  as 
Senator  of  the  United  States,  where  he  showed  him 
self  the  peer  of  our  greatest  statesmen  and  debaters, 
or  as  President  of  the  Confederate  States,  where  he 
did  all  that  human  skill  and  courage  could  do  to 
sustain  the  cause  in  whose  service  he  was  engaged. 
The  glories  of  all  these  achievements,  however,  it 
seems  to  me,  were  surpassed  by  the  patience  and  for 
titude  with  which  he  met  the  disastrous  results  of 
defeat. 

As  illustrative  of  Mr.  Davis'  self-denial,  of  his 
sympathy  for  the  poor  and  afflicted,  and  for  the 
wounded  and  disabled  soldiers  who  suffered  in  a 


268  REMINISCENCES  OF  JEFFERSON  DAVIS. 

common  cause  with  him,  I  give  an  extract  from  a 
dispatch  sent  by  Henry  W.  Grady,  editor  of  the 
Atlanta  Constitution,  in  answer  to  a  dispatch  sent  to 
him  from  the  city  of  New  York  : 

To  the  Editor  of  the  World: 

"ATLANTA,  GA.,  Dec.  6. — I  thank  you  heartily  for 
your  dispatch.  Three  or  four  times  in  the  past  ten 
years,  touched  by  Mr.  Davis'  known  poverty,  we 
have  started  to  make  a  fund  for  him,  and  once  had  a 
considerable  amount  subscribed  without  his  knowl 
edge.  Each  time  he  gratefully  but  firmly  declined, 
saying  that  so  many  widows  and  orphans  of  our  sol 
diers  and  so  many  disabled  veterans  themselves  were 
poor  and  in  need  of  the  necessaries  of  life,  that  all 
generous  offerings  had  best  be  directed  to  them  and 
to  their  betterment.  He  has  grown  steadily  poorer, 
and  I  fear  leaves  his  family  nothing." 

This  is  not  a  proper  occasion  for  the  discussion  of 
the  question  of  the  righteousness  of  the  cause  which 
he  served  with  such  fidelity  and  ability,  and  for 
which  he  has  suffered  so  much.  That  must  be  de 
ferred  to  other  occasions  and  probably  to  other  times. 
But  his  friends  may  safely  leave  his  fame  to  the  un- 
impassioned  verdict  to  be  rendered  by  the  historian 
of  the  future. 


ADDRESS. 

BY  GOVERNOR  J.    B.    GORDON. 

*  STATE  OF  GEORGIA,  EXECUTIVE  DEPARTMENT. 

ATLANTA,  GA.,  January  22,  1890. 
R.  H.  WOODWARD  &  Co.,  BALTIMORE,  MD. 

Gentlemen: — Your  letter  received.  The  preparation  of  an  article  for 
your  "  Reminiscences  of  Jefferson  Davis "  would  require  more  time  than 
it  is  possible  for  me  now  to  devote  to  it.  It  would,  indeed,  be  a  labor  of 
love,  if  I  were  able  to  accomplish  it,  but  my  time  is  so  completely  pre 
occupied  that  I  cannot  attempt  it. 

Very  truly  yours, 

J.  B.  GORDON. 

TT7ITHOUT   any   time   for   preparation,   or   one 
T  T       moment's  consecutive  thought,  you  must  al- 
Icrw  me  to  speak  as  the  spirit  of  the  occasion 
may  prompt. 

To  me,  as  to  you,  this  is  one  of  the  saddest,  and 
yet  one  of  the  sweetest  and  proudest  occasions  of  all 
my  life.  Saddest,  because  it  is  the  occasion  upon 
which  we  have  carried  to  his  last  resting-place  the 
great  chieftain  whom  we  loved,  followed  and  hon 
ored.  Sweetest,  because  we  have  laid  him  to  rest 
after  "life's  fitful  fever,"  with  all  the  honors  we 
could  bestow,  embalmed  in  the  esteem  and  bound- 

*In  response  to  our  invitation  to  Governor  Gordon  to  prepare  something 
specially  for  the  book,  he  sends  us  the  above  letter,  and  encloses  the  speech 
which  he  delivered  in  JJsew  Orleans  on  December  6,  1889. — Pubs. 

269 


270  REMINISCENCES  OF  JEFFERSON  DAVIS. 

less  affections  of  a  great  and  grateful  people. 
Proudest  to  me,  because  it  was  my  good  fortune  to 
participate  in  giving  to  that  grand  man,  dead  as  he 
was,  the  tribute  of  my  respect  and  love ;  and  now 
the  privilege  of  taking  you  all  to  my  heart  and  say 
ing,  as  he  would  have  said  with  the  last  lisp  of  his 
tongue,  God  bless  you,  my  fellow  sufferers. 

It  was  my  great  privilege  to  know  Mr.  Davis 
well,  although,  as  stated  on  another  occasion,  I  saw 
him  but  twice  in  that  eventful  period  from  1861  to 
the  autumn  of  1865.  I  saw  him  on  the  battle-field 
of  Manassas,  as  he  rode  in  triumph,  with  the  stars 
and  bars  of  the  Confederacy  floating  in  the  white 
smoke  of  the  battle,  and  with  the  shouts  of  his  vic 
torious  legions  ringing  in  his  ears. 

The  next  time  I  saw  him  was  in  prison  at  For 
tress  Monroe.  It  is  no  exaggeration  to  say  that  he 
rose  to  grander  height  as  prisoner  of  State,  as  self- 
poised  and  unbending  he  bore  his  misfortunes,  and 

WORE  HIS  SHACKLES  FOR  ALL  HIS  PEOPLE. 

I  have  followed  his  course  and  marked  his  career 
from  that  hour  to  this  with  an  unfaltering  faith  that 
he  would  neither  lower  this  high  standard  nor  betray 
the  holy  trust  which  he  carried  in  his  person.  I  never 
doubted  for  one  moment  how  he  would  live  or  how 
he  would  die,  and  I  have  not  been  disappointed. 

To  us,  whatever  it  may  be  to  mankind,  it  is  a 


ADDKESS.  271 

glorious  heritage  that  this  Southland  has  produced 
so  grand  a  vicarious  sufferer.  Here  is  a  man  upon 
whom  the  gaze  of  Christendom  was  concentrated,  and 
upon  whom  criticism  has  expended  all  its  arrows, 
and  yet  no  blemish  is  found  in  his  private  character. 

It  was  fitting  that  around  his  bier  and  his  body, 
sacred  to  us,  should  have  been  wrapped  the  flag  that 
went  down  with  his  fall  from  power.  But  it  was 
also  fitting  that  above  his  dead  body  the  stars  and 
stripes  of  the  Kepublic,  for  the  honor  and  glory  of 
which  his  blood  was  shed,  should  also  have  floated. 

Could  his  cold  lips  speak  his  injunction  would  be 
to  us  be  true  to  your  Confederate  memories;  be 
true  to  the  past,  but  be  true  to  the  future  of  the 
Union  and  the  Republic  as  well. 

The  flag  of  the  Republic,  which  is  our  flag  in  all 
the  ages  to  come,  was  made  dearer  because  Jefferson 
Davis  fought  in  its  defense.  It  is  a  glorious  thought 
to  me,  as  doubtless  to  you,  that  there  is  not  a  star 
upon  its  blue  field  that  has  not  been  made  brighter 
by  Southern  courage  and  Southern  patriotism.  That 
there  is  not  one  of  its  red  stripes  that  is  not  made 
deeper  and  richer  by  Southern  blood.  That  there  is 
not  one  of  its  white  lines  that  has  not  been  made 
purer,  whiter  and  holier  by  Southern  character  in 
all  public  offices. 

Now,  my  countrymen,  I  come  to  the  debt  we  owe 
the  living.  Mr.  Davis  is  dead.  The  grief  is  ours, 


272  KEMINISCENCES  OF  JEFFERSON  DAVIS. 

full  and  sacred.  His  fame  belongs  not  only  to  the 
South,  but  to  his  country  and  to  Christendom. 
Ours  it  is  to  cherish.  Ours  the  still  higher  privilege 
of  taking  care  of  that  memory  by  taking  care  of 
those  who  were 

IMPOVERISHED  IN  OUR  CAUSE. 

I  have  been  told  since  I  came  to  New  Orleans 
that  his  widow,  following  his  illustrious  example,  de 
clines  to  accept  such  tributes  as  we  may  choose  to 
offer. 

My  brothers,  the  reply  I  make  is,  that  we  did  not 
ask  the  consent  of  Jefferson  Davis  or  of  his  family, 
when  we  put  the  burden  upon  him  that  led  to 
shackles  for  our  sakes,  nor  will  we  consult  any  one 
now,  when  we  choose  to  pay  the  tribute  due  to  him 
and  to  his  children,  out  of  our  pockets.  If  it  be 
thought  best  to  pay  it  in  a  particular  channel,  all 
right,  but  calling  God  to  witness  the  purity  of  mo 
tive  and  consecration  which  we  feel  in  this  duty,  we 
intend,  because  of  our  love  for  him  as  our  represen 
tative;  because  of  our  love  for  those  who  have 
shared  his  fate ;  because  of  our  love  for  our  own 
honor,  we  intend  to  see  to  it  that  his  wife  and  chil 
dren  do  not  suffer  want. 

The  outside  world  may  not  appreciate  it,  but,  so 
far  as  you  and  I  are  concerned,  we  feel  that  not  one 
dollar  of  property  is  ours  so  long  as  his  wife  and  his 


ADDRESS.  v      273 

child  need  our  assistance.  This  we  intend  to  ren 
der  because  Southern  manhood  demands  it  as  a  tri 
bute  to  the  man  who  suffered  for  us.  [Great  ap 
plause.]  I  shall  not  insult  you  by  asking  you  if 
you  are  ready. 

18 


IMPRISONMENT  OF  JEFFERSON  DAVIS  * 

BY  HON.   S.    TEAKI,B  WAWJS, 
Member  of  Baltimore  Bar. 

THE  theme  of  this  little  volume,  f  in  itself  and 
without  words,  is  at  once  a  sermon  and  a  his 
tory.  It  tells  of  a  change  in  the  political 
institutions  of  a  mighty  nation  more  rapid  and  more 
thorough  than  any  other  which  the  annals  of  men 
record.  It  points  to  the  melancholy  spectacle  of 
a  government,  founded  on  consent  and  consecrated  to 
freedom,  converted  by  the  willing  hands  of  a  major 
ity  of  the  people  whose  birthright  it  was,  into  a 
despotism  controlled  by  popular  passion  and  sec 
tional  interests.  It  signalizes,  by  a  conspicuous  and 
incontestable  example,  the  substitution  of  a  scheme 
of  arbitrary  violence,  for  a  system  based  on  written 
constitutions  and  ruling  and  punishing  only  through 
its  laws.  More  sad,  a  thousand-fold,  than  all,  it 
proclaims  to  us — whether  as  cause  or  effect  it  is 
unnecessary  here  to  discuss — the  decadence  of  that 
high  and  manly  spirit,  that  generous  and  wholesome 
sense  of  right,  that  love  of  justice  and  fair-play, 

*  This  article,  written  by  Mr.  Wallis  soon  after  the  release  of  Mr. 
Davis,  has  been  kindly  furnished  for  this  volume. — [PuBS.]. 
f  Prison  Life  of  Jefferson  Davis,  by  John  J.  Craven,  M.D. 

274 


IMPRISONMENT  OF  JEFFEKSON  DAVIS.  275- 

which  animated  and  exalted  our  once  noble  institu 
tions,  through  the  first  stage  of  their  development, 
as  with  the  inspiration  of  a  great  and  living  soul. 
The  children  are  yet  clinging  round  our  knees,  who 
were  born  before  "  State  prisoners "  were  imagined 
as  a  possibility  upon  our  soil,  and  the  generation 
who  preceded  them — scarce  half-grown  even  now — 
were  taught  the  stories  of  the  Doges'  Palace,  the 
Tower  and  the  Bastille,  of  Olmiitz  and  St.  Helena 
and  Ham,  as  a  warning  against  the  wickedness  of 
kings  and  lords,  and  a  lesson  of  thankfulness  to  the 
good  God,  who  had  made  a  republic  their  birth 
place.  And  yet,  to-day,  after  having  for  five  years 
seen  with  approval  every  fortress  in  the  North 
stuffed  full  of  men  and  women,  dragged  from  their 
homes,  at  midnight  or  at  mid-day,  without  warrant 
or  authority  or  even  form  of  law ;  after  having  wit 
nessed  the  infliction  upon  large  classes  of  their 
neighbors  and  friends,  of  all  the  contumely  and  out 
rage  that  brutality  suggested  to  capricious  and 
unbridled  power,  as  a  penalty  for  the  exercise  of 
freedom  of  opinion ;  the  masses  of  the  Northern 
people  can  behold,  not  only  without  shame,  but  with 
rejoicing,  the  long  imprisonment  and  barbarous 
personal  ill  treatment  of  one  of  their  most  prominent 
and  distinguished  fellow-citizens,  in  notorious  viola 
tion  of  the  most  rudimental  of  the  principles,  on 
which  they  go  on  vaunting,  day  after  day,  that  their 


276  REMINISCENCES  OF  JEFFERSON  DAVIS. 

government  reposes.  And  this  too,  not  in  the  heat 
of  conflict,  when  the  best  of  men  go  sometimes  mad 
with  zeal  or  passion,  but  in  the  midst  of  profound 
and  established  peace,  when  those  who  were  lately 
in  arms  against  them  are  not  only  vanquished  but 
crushed,  and  nothing  stands  in  the  way  of  perfect 
harmony  and  reconstruction  but  the  incapacity  or 
unwillingness  of  the  victors  to  be  either  generous  or 
just. 

Nor  in  the  political  antecedents  or  personal  char 
acter  or  conduct  of  the  chief  victim,  upon  whom 
the  unmanly  vengeance  of  the  Northern  people  is 
thus  wreaked,  is  there  anything  to  excuse,  or  even 
furnish  a  reasonable  pretext  for  so  relentless  a  per 
secution.  There  is  no  public  man  now  living  in  the 
United  States  who  has  gone  through  the  political 
conflicts  of  the  last  twenty  years  with  a  more  stain 
less  name.  As  a  soldier,  a  senator,  a  Cabinet 
minister  of  the  old  Union,  gallant,  able,  active  and 
efficient  always,  and  developing  those  positive  and 
somewhat  aggressive  traits  of  character,  which  pro 
voke  and  stimulate  antagonism  and  resentment,  he 
never  found  an  enemy  so  reckless  as  to  question  his 
patriotism  or  asperse  his  purity.  Even  now,  shorn 
as  he  is  of  power  and  influence,  the  vanquished  and 
captive  chief  of  a  ruined  and,  of  course,  unpopular 
cause,  with  all  the  personal  and  official  animosities 
and  criminations  which  belong  to  such  a  position 


IMPRISONMENT  OF  JEFFEKSON  DAVIS.  277 

crowding  round  him,  there  is  yet  to  be  heard  among 
his  constituents  the  first  whisper  of  imputation  upon 
his  loyalty  to  the  people  who  chose  him  as  their 
leader,  or  his  integrity  in  the  administration  of  his 
office  according  to  his  judgment.     Of  those  particu 
lar  political  opinions  which  are  now  held  to  be  his 
crime,  he  not  only  made  no  concealment,  while  he 
was   in   the   service  of  the  United  States,  but  was 
their  open,  avowed,  conspicuous  champion.     He  was 
elected  and  appointed  to  places  of  honor  and  respon 
sibility,  with  the  full  knowledge,  on  the  part  of  both 
Government  and  people,  that  he  was  the  uncompro 
mising  advocate  of  States  rights,  in  the  broad  South 
ern  understanding  of  that  term,  and  that,  as  he  wrote 
to   Mr.    Bostick   in  the  well-known  letter  of   May 
14th,  1858,  the  honor  and  safety  of  the   Southern 
people,  their  respect  for  their  ancestors,  and  their 
regard   for   their   posterity   would  require  them  to 
"  meet,  at  whatever  sacrifice,"  any  issue  in  which  the 
maintenance   of  those   rights   might   be    involved.* 
The  resolutions  introduced  by  him  into  the  Senate 
of  the  United  States  in  February  or  March,  1860, 
and  in  which  his  political  creed  on  the  vexed  ques 
tion  of  State  sovereignty  was  set  forth,  did  no  more 
than  place  permanently  upon  record,  the   familiar 
and   oft   defended   doctrines   and   principles   of  his 
whole  public  life.     He  was  therefore  as  well  known 

*  See  McCluskey's  Pol.  Text  Book,  747. 


278  REMINISCENCES  OF  JEFFEKSON  DAVIS. 

to  be  a  secessionist  at  Charleston,  in  1860,  when 
General  Butler  voted  fifty  times  to  make  him  a  can 
didate  for  the  Presidency,  as  he  now  is,  at  Fortress 
Monroe,  where  General  Butler  would  gibbet  him, 
without  trial,  to-day,  for  the  inconceivable  crime  of 
secession.  Of  his  entire  and  honorable  freedom 
from  every  imputation  that  could  justly  make  a 
gentleman  ashamed — unless  the  wickedness,  incom 
prehensible  to  General  Butler,  of  risking  his  life  and 
fortune  in  defence  of  his  most  cherished  convictions, 
be  supposed  to  belong  to  that  class — there  can  be  no 
evidence  more  conclusive  than  the  attempts  which 
have  been  made  under  the  auspices  of  the  high 
officials  of  the  Federal  Government,  to  bring  his 
name  and  person  into  unjust  contempt,  and  to 
attract  to  him,  by  false  and  infamous  charges,  the 
vindictive  hatred  of  the  populace. 

The  reader  will  recall  the  wretched  and  indecent 
fabrications  transmitted  by  the  Associated  Press, 
from  Washington,  under  the  inspiration  of  Mr.  Sec 
retary  Stanton,  at  the  time  of  the  capture  of  Mr. 
Davis,  whereby  the  foolish  and  credulous  were  in 
structed  that  "Jeff."  was  making  his  way  to  the 
Mississippi,  with  a  wagon-load  of  gold  which  he  had 
seized  as  his  private  plunder,  and  that  when  taken 
prisoner  he  was  disguised  "  in  his  wife's  crinoline," 
and  pretended  to  be  a  woman.  Of  course,  the 
authors  of  so  vulgar  and  paltry  a  defamation  well 


IMPRISONMENT  OF  JEFFERSON  DAVIS.  279 

knew  that  it  would  impose  on  no  one  who  under 
stood  the  character  of  Mr.  Davis,  or  had  observed 
his  public  or  private  career,  and  that  it  would  turn 
to  nothing  in  the  course  of  time,  along  with  the 
thousand  other  official  slanders  which  had  hissed 
and  died  during  the  war.  But  they  knew,  equally 
well,  that  it  would  tend  to  hinder,  for  a  while, 
among  the  masses  of  the  people,  that  respectful 
sympathy  which  spontaneously  opens  itself  to  the 
misfortunes  of  a  brave  and  fallen  foe,  and  that  it 
would  contribute  its  share  towards  preparing  them 
for  the  wholly  un-American  system  of  persecution 
which  the  parties  in  question  had  already  devised 
for  the  torment  of  their  victim. 

And  here,  it  may  properly  be  observed,  that  there 
was  one  thing  more  than  any  other  and  perhaps 
than  all  others  put  together,  in  which  the  Cabinet 
organized  by  Mr.  Lincoln  displayed  especial  and  re 
markable  sagacity.  Indeed,  in  summing  up  their 
career  as  an  administration,  we  might  perhaps  be 
justified  in  saying  that  it  was  at  the  foundation  of 
their  whole  success,  and  stood  them,  throughout,  in 
stead  of  those  high  qualities  of  statesmanship, 
which  such  a  crisis  as  the  Confederate  War  would 
have  developed  in  any  nation  less  devoid  of  really 
great  men  than  the  Northern  section  of  the  United 
States.  We  refer  to  that  perfect  comprehension  of 
the  passions,  prejudices,  susceptibilities,  vices,  virtues, 


280  KEMINISCENCES  OF  JEFFEESON  DAVIS. 

knowledge  and  ignorance  of  the  people  upon  whom 
they  had  to  practice.  They  knew  every  quiver  of 
the  popular  pulse,  and  what  it  signified.  They 
could  weigh  out,  to  a  grain,  the  small  quantity  of 
truth  to  which  the  public  appetite  was  equal,  and 
they  perfectly  understood  and  measured  the  pre 
ternatural  extent  to  which  the  popular  digestion 
could  assimilate  falsehood.  They  were  masters  of 
every  artifice  that  could  mystify  or  mislead,  and  of 
every  trick  that  could  excite  hope,  or  confidence,  or 
rage.  They  knew  every  common-place  and  clap 
trap  that  would  affect  the  popular  imagination  or 
temper,  as  familiarly  and  as  accurately  as  a  stage 
manager  is  acquainted  with  the  oldest  of  his  the 
atrical  properties.  Understanding  their  part  thus 
well,  they  played  to  it,  with  wonderful  tact  and  ef 
fect.  They  filled  their  armies,  established  their  fi 
nancial  system,  controlled  the  press  and  silenced 
opposition  by  the  same  universal  system  of  ingenious 
and  bold  imposture.  I  have  before  me  an  editorial 
article  of  Mr.  Raymond,  of  the  New  York  Times,  in 
which  he  testifies  that  on  the  night  after  the  battle 
of  Bull  Run,  he  prepared  an  accurate  and  candid 
statement  of  the  federal  disaster,  and  left  it  at  the 
office  of  the  Telegraph,  to  be  transmitted  to  the 
journal  which  he  conducted,  but  that  the  censor  of 
the  War  Department,  to  his  surprise  and  without 
his  knowledge,  caused  his  report  to  be  suppressed, 


IMPRISONMENT  OF  JEFFERSON  DAVIS.  281 

and  forwarded  in  its  place  the  well-known  telegram, 
in  which  the  triumph  of  the  federal  arms,  at  all 
points,  was  announced  in  startling  capitals  to  the  de 
lighted  North.  The  equally  notorious  despatch  of 
Mr.  Stanton  to  Governor  Curtin,  after  the  battle  of 
Fredericksburg,  is  but  one  out  of  a  thousand  evi 
dences  that  the  Carnot — as  Mr.  Seward  called  him 
— of  the  Lincoln  Cabinet,  was  as  notable  an  adept 
as  his  predecessor,  in  that  ancient  art,  which  was 
practiced  with  less  impunity  in  the  days  of  Ananias 
and  Sapphira. 

It  was  not  to  be  expected  that  the  War  Depart 
ment  of  the  United  States,  thus  taught  by  long  suc 
cess  the  value  of  judicious  falsehood,  should  content 
itself  with  seeking  merely  to  bring  into  contempt 
the  head  of  the  fallen  Confederate  Government. 
The  war,  in  itself  so  violently  antagonistic  to  the 
whole  spirit  and  principles  of  the  Constitution  of  the 
United  States,  could  not,  of  course,  be  conducted 
without  unconstitutional  means  and  appliances. 
Among  the  most  iniquitous  of  the  contrivances  re 
sorted  to  was  the  anomalous,  inquisitorial  tribunal, 
called  the  Bureau  of  Military  Justice.  A  few  years 
ago  no  man  would  have  dared  to  suggest  such  an  en 
gine  of  persecution  to  the  most  unscrupulous  of  po 
litical  organizations  in  this  country.  If  established, 
it  would  have  collapsed  in  a  week,  under  the  scorn 
and  indignation  of  a  people  yet  uneducated  by  phil- 


282         ,  KEMINISCENCES  OF  JEFFERSON  DAVIS. 

anthropy  in  violence  and  usurpation.  Nevertheless, 
at  the  close  of  the  war,  it  exercised  almost  unlimited 
power  for  evil.  It  was  the  centre  of  all  the  schemes 
of  hidden  wickedness  and  mischief  which  consumed 
so  many  millions  of  secret  service  money  and  raised 
up  and  debauched  such  an  army  of  spies  and  in 
formers  throughout  the  land.  It  had  grown  to  mo 
nopolize  the  getting  up  of  persecutions,  the  organi 
zation  of  military  commissions,  the  fabrication  ot 
evidence  and  the  subornation  of  witnesses.  Guided 
by  the  constitutional  doctrines  of  Solicitor  Whiting, 
the  legal  and  military  ethics  of  Dr.  Lieber,  and  the 
systematized  and  ingenious  malignity  and  invention 
of  Judge  Advocate  General  Holt,  it  could  only  have 
been  surpassed,  had  Jeffreys,  Yidocq  and  Haynau 
been  revived  to  sit  in  judgment  together.  Had  its 
plans  not  been  thwarted,  by  the  interposition  of 
President  Johnson,  when  the  Supreme  Court,  under 
the  most  disreputable  political  influences,  postponed, 
for  a  whole  year,  the  promulgation  of  its  opinion 
upon  the  constitutionality  of  Military  Commissions, 
it  would  have  opened  a  general  campaign  of  judicial 
murder,  beside  which  the  Bloody  Assizes  of  King 
James'  Chief  Justice  would  have  lost  their  hitherto 
pre-eminent  infamy.  Under  the  inspiration  of  this 
Bureau,  with  the  sympathetic  assistance  of  Mr.  Sec 
retary  Stanton,  the  well  known  proclamation  was  is 
sued,  in  which  Mr.  Davis  was  charged  with  having 


IMPRISONMENT  OF  JEFFERSON  DAVIS.  283 

been  accessory  to  the  assassination  of  President 
Lincoln.  It  was  a  painful  feature  of  that  abominable 
outrage,  that  the  confidence  of  President  Johnson 
should  have  been  abused  by  his  official  advisers  to 
the  extent  of  inducing  him,  in  the  first  moment  of 
his  accession,  to  put  his  name  to  such  a  paper.  To 
consider  even  for  a  moment,  here,  whether  the  par 
ties  by  whom  the  calumny  was  made  to  take  an 
official  shape  had  any  grounds  for  suspecting  it  to  be 
true,  which  the  bitterest  honorable  enemy  of  Mr. 
Davis  would  not  have  scorned  to  examine,  would  be 
an  insult  to  our  readers,  not  less  than  an  indignity 
to  the  gallant  gentleman  against  whose  life  and 
honor  the  poisoned  shaft  was  aimed.  It  is  safe  to 
say  that  not  one  of  the  conspirators  at  the  "War  De 
partment  ever  harbored,  for  an  instant,  a  sincere  be 
lief  in  the  truth  of  the  charge,  either  before  or  after 
it  was  made.  If  it  had  been  honestly  started  under 
the  passionate  influences  of  the  troubled  hour  in 
which  it  saw  the  light,  it  would  have  been  manfully 
disavowed  when  the  excitement  was  over,  and  espe 
cially  after  the  disgraceful  and  utter  failure  of  the 
attempt  to  maintain  it,  with  other  injurious  accusa 
tions,  before  the  military  inquisitions  which  decreed 
the  murder  of  Mrs.  Surratt  and  Captain  Wirz.  But 
it  had  done  its  work  in  filling  the  minds  of  the  ig 
norant  with  prejudice  and  stimulating  the  hatred 
and  fanaticism  of  party,  and  to  have  admitted  its 


2  84  EEMINISCENCES  OF  JEFFEKSON  DAVIS. 

falsehood  would  have  been  to  create  a  just  reaction 
in  favor  of  the  victim.  It  was  therefore  allowed  to 
stand  without  qualification  as  it  was  uttered,  until 
the  publication  of  the  confidential  correspondence 
between  Mr.  Holt  and  his  agent  Conover,  disclosed 
not  merely  the  perjury  which  had  been  suborned, 
but  the  deliberate  and  disgusting  circumstances  of 
the  purchase.  Then,  for  the  first  time,  the  head  of 
the  Bureau  of  Military  Justice  found  himself  forced 
into  an  attitude  of  defence,  and  was  compelled  to 
vindicate  his  integrity  in  the  newspapers  by  a  weak 
attempt  to  shift  the  blame  upon  the  unsuspecting 
credulousness  of  his  nature.  It  is  now  probably  too 
late  for  him  to  escape  the  retributive  justice  of  pub 
lic  and  historical  opinion,  by  pretending  to  punish 
the  perjury-broker,  whose  hirelings  he  paid  and 
used.  Posterity  will  contemplate  these  incidents 
and  others  like  them  in  the  history  of  the  war  with 
inexpressible  astonishment,  that  the  gigantic  hopes 
and  wonderful  resources  of  such  a  nation  as  this 
should  have  been  entrusted,  in  the  vital  moment  of 
its  destiny,  to  minds  so  little  and  souls  so  mean. 
Nor  will  they,  we  are  sorry  to  believe,  forget  that 
for  rulers  like  these  and  for  their  doings,  the  respon 
sibility,  under  a  Republican  form  of  Government,  is 
upon  the  people  who  endure  such  rule.  The  im 
partial  times  to  come  will  hardly  understand  how  a 
nation,  which  not  only  permitted,  but  encouraged  its 


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IMPRISONMENT  OF  JEFFERSON  DAVIS.  285 

government  to  declare  medicines  and  surgical  in 
struments  contraband  of  war,  and  to  destroy  by  fire 
and  sword  the  habitations  and  food  of  non-com 
batants,  as  well  as  the  fruits  of  the  earth  and  the 
implements  of  tillage,  should  afterwards  have  clam 
ored  for  the  blood  of  captive  enemies,  because  they 
did  not  feed  their  prisoners  out  of  their  own  starva 
tion  and  heal  them  in  their  succorless  hospitals. 
And  when  a  final  and  accurate  development  shall 
have  been  made  of  the  facts  connected  with  the  ex 
change  of  prisoners  between  the  belligerents,  and  it 
shall  have  been  demonstrated,  as  even  now  it  is  per 
fectly  understood,  that  all  the  nameless  horrors 
which  are  recorded  of  the  prison-houses  upon  both 
sides,  were  the  result  of  a  deliberate  and  inexorable 
policy  of  non-exchange  on  the  part  of  the  United 
States,  founded  on  an  equally  deliberate  calculation 
of  their  ability  to  furnish  a  greater  mass  of  humanity 
than  the  Confederacy  could  afford,  for  starvation 
and  the  shambles,  men  will  wonder  how  it  was  that 
a  people,  passing  for  civilized  and  Christian,  should 
have  consigned  Jefferson  Davis  to  a  cell,  while  they 
tolerated  Edwin  M.  Stanton  as  a  Cabinet  minister. 

I  have  referred  to  these  apparently  extraneous 
matters,  for  the  purpose  of  showing,  upon  what 
foundations  the  prodigal  slanders  were  rested,  by 
which  the  American  people  were  induced  to 
acquiesce  in  what  we  have  already  described  as  the 


286  REMINISCENCES  OF  JEFFEKSON  DAVIS. 

un-American  system  of  persecution  to  which  Mr. 
Davis  has  been  surrendered.  One  by  one  they  have 
been  demolished  or  tacitly  abandoned,  and  it  is  now 
conceded  upon  all  sides,  that  the  only  ground  upon 
which  the  late  President  of  the  Confederate  States 
has  been  or  can  be  further  restrained  of  his  liberty, 
under  any  color  of  right,  is  the  fact  of  his  having 
been  engaged  in  levying  war  against  the  United 
States.  The  act  which  these  latter  words  describe 
is  treason  within  the  language  of  the  3d  section  of 
3d  article  of  the  Federal  Constitution,  and  upon  the 
applicability  of  that  section  to  the  case  of  Mr. 
Davis,  depends,  of  course,  the  right  to  hold  and  try 
him  for  the  crime  which  it  defines.  But  before  pro 
ceeding  to  the  few  observations  upon  that  point,  to 
which  our  space  and  the  nature  of  this  article  con 
fines  us,  we  cannot  avoid  renewing  the  inquiry,  why 
is  it  that  Mr.  Davis  has  been  singled  out  for  imputed 
treason,  from  the  millions  whom  the  Supreme  Court 
of  the  United  States  has  solemnly  declared  to  be 
as  guilty  as  he.  "All  persons,"  says  Mr.  Justice 
Grier,  in  delivering  the  opinion  of  that  tribunal,  in 
the  Prize  cases,  *  "  residing  within  this  territory, 
whose  property  may  be  used  to  increase  the 
revenues  of  the  hostile  power,  are  liable  to  be  treated 
as  enemies,  though  not  foreigners.  They  have  cast 
off  their  allegiance  and  made  war  on  the  Govern- 

*  2  Black,  674. 


IMPEISONMENT  OF  JEFFERSON  DAVIS.  287 

ment  and  are  none  the  less  enemies  because  they  are 
traitors."  Lawyers  and  publicists  will  of  course 
judge  for  themselves  in  regard  to  the  soundness  of 
the  doctrine  thus  announced,  but  it  conveys,  at  all 
events,  the  deliberate  judgment  of  the  highest  judi 
cial  authority  under  the  Constitution.  How  is  it, 
then,  that  one  man  out  of  all  these  millions  of 
"  traitors "  and  "  enemies "  is  sought  to  be  made 
their  scape-goat?  Nay,  the  Supreme  Court  have 
gone  further  than  the  language  we  have  quoted. 
They  have  determined  in  the  same  cases,  by  the 
mouth  of  the  same  judge,*  that  the  people  of  the 
South  "  in  organizing  this  rebellion,"  "  acted  as 
States,  (sic)  claiming  to  be  sovereign  over  all  persons 
and  property  within  their  respective  limits,  and 
asserting  a  right  to  absolve  their  citizens  from  their 
allegiance  to  the  Federal  Government.  Several  of 
these  States,"  adds  Judge  Grier,  "  have  combined  to 
form  a  new  Confederacy,  claiming  to  be  acknowl 
edged  by  the  world  as  a  sovereign  State."  How  is 
it,  then,  that  Mr.  Davis  alone  is  to  be  held  as  the 
representative  for  punishment,  not  only  of  the  mil 
lions  of  individual  men  by  whom  "  the  rebellion  " 
was  conducted,  but  also  of  the  States  whose  corpor 
ate  capacity  and  action  the  Supreme  Court  thus 
recognizes,  and  of  the  Confederacy,  to  which  these 
States  entrusted,  as  their  representative,  the  bel- 

*  2  Black,  763. 


288  REMINISCENCES  OF  JEFFEKSON  DAVIS. 

ligerent  powers  and  resources  of  the  sovereignty 
which  they  respectively  asserted  ?  It  is  simply  im 
possible  that  any  reasonable  answer  can  be  given  to 
these  inquiries.  That  Mr.  Davis  had  anything  more 
to  do  with  originating  the  Southern  movement  than 
hundreds  of  other  prominent  and  able  men,  cannot 
be  asserted  with  any  respect  for  the  truth.  No 
Southern  member  of  the  Senate  in  1861  was  more 
anxious  and  ready  than  he  for  a  compromise  and 
pacific  solution  of  the  questions  which  were  inflam 
ing  the  public  mind.  No  man  retired  from  the  Sen 
ate  with  more  unfeigned  and  sorrowful  reluctance, 
or  left  behind  him  a  more  respectful  appreciation  of 
his  honesty,  sincerity,  dignity  and  manhood.  His 
valedictory  moistened  the  eyes  of  those  who  were 
most  hostile  to  his  political  movements  and  opinions, 
and  produced  a  sensation  which  no  man,  who  wit 
nessed  the  scene,  will  ever  forget.  He  was  elevated 
to  the  Presidential  chair  of  the  new-formed  Confed 
eracy,  not  as  the  representative  of  extreme  opinions 
or  bitter  feelings,  but  because  of  the  respect  in  which 
his  consistency,  his  honor,  his  single-heartedness,  his 
courage  and  ability  were  held  by  the  whole  Southern 
people.  With  what  perplexities  and  trials  he  had 
to  struggle,  yet  with  what  earnestness  and  success 
he  managed,  above  all  things,  to  prevent  the  action 
of  his  government  and  the  conduct  of  its  armies 
from  being  controlled  by  the  vindictive  rancor  which 


IMPRISONMENT  OF  JEFFERSON  DAVIS.  289 

the  circumstances  rendered  so  natural  and  so  difficult 
to  restrain,  all  who  knew  anything  of  the  internal 
struggles  of  the  Confederacy  can  testify.  The  same 
history  which  canonizes  the  successful  determination 
of  Lamartine,  at  the  Hotel  de  Ville,  to  prevent  the 
rising  republic  of  1848  from  lifting  the  red  flag  anew, 
which  had  been  drenched  in  the  blood  of  the  peo 
ple,  will  place  side  by  side  with  it  the  moral  heroism 
of  Jefferson  Davis,  in  forbidding  the  black  flag  to  be 
unfurled  by  any  of  the.  soldiers  of  the  Confederate 
States  against  the  enemies  who  were  menacing  their 
homes,  institutions  and  freedom. 

Nor  was  it  alone  in  the  belligerent  relations  of  the 
Confederacy  that  Mr.  Davis  was  the  representative 
of  the  spirit  of  moderation.  In  a  contest,  in  which 
everything  (and  especially  upon  the  weaker  side) 
depended  upon  executive  energy,  concentration  and 
promptness,  he  shrank  from  grasping  a  single  power 
which  was  not  confided  to  him  by  the  Constitution. 
While  the  Federal  Government  of  the  United  States, 
looking  only  to  success,  and  regardless  of  the  means 
by  which  it  might  be  assured,  went  trampling  to  the 
right  and  left,  over  every  Constitutional  guaranty, 
over  individual  liberty  and  State  authority  alike, 
Mr.  Davis  persistently  confined  himself  within  the 
limits  constitutionally  assigned  to  him,  determined, 
whatever  might  betide,  that  the  Confederacy 

should  at  least  not  suffer  at  his  hands  the  evils  of 
19 


290  REMINISCENCES  OF  JEFFEESON  DAVIS. 

executive  usurpation.  There  are  those  among  the 
best  friends  of  Mr  Davis,  who  believe,  with  sadness, 
that  in  this  he  was  perhaps  more  nice  than  wise,  and 
that  the  circumstances  would  have  justified  him  in 
temporarily  opposing  to  the  vigor  of  the  despotism 
into  which  the  Government  of  the  United  States  had 
been  converted  by  Mr.  Lincoln,  a  corresponding 
vigor,  purchased  at  the  same  cost  to  the  Southern 
people.  This,  of  course,  resolves  itself  into  a  ques 
tion  which  we  shall  not  discuss,  between  regarding 
Mr.  Davis  as  the  chief  of  a  mere  revolution,  or  as  the 
head  of  an  organized  and  constitutional  government. 
There  is  another  particular,  too,  in  which  the  ad 
ministration  of  Mr.  Davis  has  been  exposed  to  the 
censure  of  both  friends  and  foes,  among  his  own 
constituents,  which  seems  to  render  doubly  heinous 
his  selection  as  a  victim  from  among  the  whole  peo 
ple  whom  he  served.  We  refer  to  that  peculiar 
gentleness  and  kindness  of  heart,  which  made  it 
impossible  for  him  to  deal,  in  the  spirit  of  his  other 
wise  just  and  resolute  character,  with  the  thousand 
cases  of  individual  and  official  delinquency,  defect 
or  misconduct  which  required  his  action.  How 
much,  in  such  a  contest  as  the  Confederate  "War,  de 
pends  upon  the  inflexible  maintenance  of  discipline 
and  the  relentless  enforcement  of  official  obligation, 
in  every  branch  of  the  public  service,  civil  as  well  as 
military/ the  experience  of  both  parties  to  the  strug- 


IMPRISONMENT  OF  JEFFEKSON  DAVIS.  291 

gle  has  sufficiently  demonstrated.  Whether  they 
are  in  the  right  or  not,  who  maintain  that  the  stern 
ness  of  Mr.  Davis  was  not  equal  to  the  demands  of 
his  position  in  that  regard,  it  is  certainly  true,  that 
the  instincts  of  his  nature  were  in  constant  struggle 
with  the  harsher  requirements  of  duty,  and  that  the 
influence  of  his  personal  kindness  was  felt,  not  only 
among  the  soldiers  and  people  of  the  Confederacy, 
but  whenever  he  was  able  to  mitigate,  as  to  its  ene 
mies,  the  dread  severity  of  war. 

Except,  then,  that  he  was  the  official  chief  and 
representative  of  the  Confederate  Government  and 
people ;  that  by  his  ability,  statesmanship  and  mod 
eration,  and  the  admirable  official  papers  which 
came  from  his  hand,  he  at  once  gave  to  his  cause  a 
position  of  honor  and  respect  before  the  world  and 
its  rulers,  and  elevated  the  American  name  among 
all  the  nations ;  that  his  constancy  and  patriotism 
shared  in  every  sacrifice  and  animated  every  effort 
of  the  struggle ;  that  his  dignity  and  courage  gave 
consolation  even  to  despair,  and  have  ennobled  de 
feat  and  captivity — except  in  these,  there  is  no  rea 
son  why  he  should  not  breathe  the  air  to-day,  as 
much  a  freeman  as  any  other  man  who  lifted  the 
Confederate  flag  or  fought  beneath  it.  It  were  a  sad 
commentary,  at  the  best,  on  civilization  and  Chris 
tianity,  and  especially  upon  the  vaunted  influence  of 
political  liberty  and  Republican  institutions,  that  a 


292  REMINISCENCES  OF  JEFFERSON  DAVIS. 

war  of  political  opinion — a  war  not  waged  for  the 
subversion  of  society  or  government,  but  in  vindica 
tion,  upon  both  sides,  of  principles  which  they  re 
spectively  assumed  to  be  the  basis  of  the  constitu 
tional  system  that  had  united  them  so  long — should 
not  end  upon  the  battle-field,  but  should  lead  the 
vanquished  to  the  dungeon  and  the  scaffold.  To 
have  settled  by  brute  force  a  question  of  constitu 
tional  right  and  self-government  would  *seem  re 
proach  enough,  in  itself,  to  the  citizens  of  a  Repub 
lic  which  was  founded  on  consent,  and  whose  very 
origin  made  sacred  and  indefeasible  the  right  of 
mankind  to  abrogate  old  governments  and  set  up  new. 
But  that  the  victors  in  such  a  strife,  not  content 
with  accepting  their  own  superiority  in  numbers 
and  material  resources  as  conclusive  upon  a  matter 
of  reason  and  right,  should  select  from  the  millions 
of  their  fellow-citizens  who  have  laid  down  their 
arms,  the  most  conspicuous  and  honored  of  their 
public  servants,  to  atone  by  his  personal  sufferings 
for  the  sinful  opinions  of  his  people,  would  seem 
like  closing  the  volume  of  human  progress,  and  dis 
pelling  forever  the  dreams  of  the  enthusiasts  who 
believe  that  freedom  and  self-government  improve 
and  enlighten  men.  With  what  humiliation  do  \ve 
turn  from  such  a  picture  to  the  noble  spectacle  of 
the  Provisional  Government  of  the  French  Republic 
of  1848,  on  the  immortal  occasion  to  which  we 


IMPRISONMENT  OF  JEFFERSON  DAVIS.  293 

have  alluded.  What  a  lesson  in  the  grand  words  of 
Lamartine,  when  he  proclaimed  to  his  people  in  the 
first  flush  of  their  triumph,  that  it  became  them  to 
make  it  "  a  victory  and  not  a  vengeance  !  "  What 
an  example  in  the  abolition  of  the  death-penalty  for 
political  offences,  as  the  first  act  of  a  government 
yet  struggling  with  the  infuriated  passions  of  those 
who  had  created  it.  upon  the  arena  still  slippery 
with  their  own  and  their  brothers'  blood  ! 

But  assuming  that  all  these  teachings  and  exam 
ples,  and  all  the  better  instincts  of  men  and  nations 
are  to  be  as  naught,  and  that  the  South  is  to  suffer, 
in  the  person  of  Mr.  Davis,  for  the  crime  of  its 
treason — if  treason  it  were — let  us  consider  for  a 
moment  how  such  a  determination  gets  rid  of  the 
difficulty,  which  Mr.  Burke  found  so  insurmounta 
ble,  of  framing  an  indictment  against  a  people.  It 
may  be  premised,  we  suppose,  without  contradiction, 
that  the  idea  of  settling  the  question  of  the  right  of 
secession,  by  a  judicial  decision  in  the  premises,  is  a 
simple  and  empty  pretext.  No  one  imagines  that 
the  Supreme  Court  would  dare  to  pronounce  in  favor 
of  that  right,  if  the  opinion  of  every  judge  on  the 
bench  was  conscientiously  and  deliberately  upon  that 
side.  The  people  of  the  North  would  not  tolerate 
such  a  decision,  nor  abide  by  it  if  it  were  given,  for, 
as  we  have  said,  the  question  is  claimed,  upon  all 
hands,  to  have  been  settled  forever  by  the  result  of 


294  REMINISCENCES  OF  JEFFERSON  DAVIS. 

the  war.  Nay,  the  Supreme  Court  itself,  in  1862,  in 
the  Prize  cases,*  after  using  the  language  which  we 
have  quoted  above,  as  to  the  assumption  of  the 
seceding  States  to  absolve  their  citizens  from  alle 
giance  to  the  Federal  Government  and  form  a  new 
Confederacy,  declares  in  express  terms  that  "  their 
right  to  do  so  is  now  being  decided  by  wager  of  bat 
tle."  The  wager  has  long  since  been  won,  and  the 
Supreme  Court,  with  the  rest  of  the  winners,  has 
possession  of  the  bloody  stakes.  To  imagine  that 
the  judges  of  that  tribunal  could  now  hold  otherwise 
than  that  the  "  right "  in  dispute  had  been  "  de 
cided,"  would  be  sheer  fatuity.  The  question  is  no 
longer  open.  The  conclusion  is  already  foregone. 
The  trial,  conviction  and  execution  of  every  sur 
viving  soldier  of  the  Confederate  armies  would  not 
strengthen  it  a  jot  or  a  tittle.  Their  universal  ac 
quittal,  with  Mr.  Davis  at  their  head,  would  not 
shake  it,  for  an  instant,  in  the  popular  mind  and 
determination  of  the  North.  To  moot  the  question 
before  the  courts  is  therefore  but  to  enact  a  judicial 
farce — none  the  less  a  farce  because  death  is  hid 
under  the  motley.  Still,  if  the  form  of  a  hearing 
is  to  be  gone  through,  the  form  of  a  defence  is  pre 
supposed  as  part  of  the  drama,  and  it  becomes  those 
who  think  that  bayonets  are  not  pure  reason,  to  sug 
gest  what  reason  they  have  to  the  contrary. 

*  2  Black,  673. 


IMPRISONMENT  OF  JEFFEESON  DAVIS.  295 

The  Supreme  Court,  as  we  have  shown,  has  set 
tled  the  question  of  both  fact  and  law,  that  the 
Southern  States  "  acted  as  States  "  in  "  organizing  the 
rebellion."  This  was  not  merely  the  recital  of  a 
historical  incident  by  the  Court,  but  was  absolutely 
necessary  as  an  element  in  the  maintenance  of  the 
doctrine  which  the  Prize  cases  established.  It  was 
contended  by  the  counsel  of  some  of  the  claimants, 
citizens  of  Virginia,  that  they  were  not  alleged  or 
proven  to  be  "  traitors  : "  that  insurrection  was  the 
crime  of  individuals  and  that  the  relation  of  citizens 
to  the  Government  of  the  United  States  was  purely 
an  individual  one ;  that  the  ordinances  of  secession, 
being  unconstitutional  and  invalid,  could  not  sever 
the  allegiance  of  the  citizen  from  the  United  States, 
or  make  him  an  enemy,  and  expose  his  property  to 
capture  and  confiscation,  if  he  was  not,  by  his  own 
individual  act,  in  rebellion  or  hostility.  There  was 
but  one  possible  escape,  in  the  interest  of  the  Gov 
ernment,  from  this  argument,  and  that  was,  to 
declare  that  the  States  went  out  "  as  States,"  in  their 
corporate  capacity,  and  that  such  State  action,  of 
itself,  and  without  their  personal  participation,  made 
every  man,  woman  and  child  within  the  State  limits 
an  "  enemy,"  in  law,  whether  friend  or  enemy  in 
fact.  How  a  legal  "nullity"  could  work  such  a 
legal  result,  is  among  the  unexplained  mysteries  of 
belligerent  jurisprudence — but  still  it  was  so  de- 


296  KEMINISCENCES  OF  JEFFERSON  DAVIS. 

cided,  and  the  fact,  legal  and  actual,  that  the  States 
corporately,  and  not  the  individuals  who  composed 
them,  "organized  the  rebellion,"  and  formed  the  new 
Confederacy,  was  not  only  admitted,  but  set  up, 
affirmatively,  by  the  counsel  of  the  United  States, 
and  by  the  court  itself,  as  part  of  the  case  of  this 
Government.  Carried  honestly  out  to  its  legitimate 
consequences,  under  the  law  of  nations,  this  deci 
sion  disposes  of  the  whole  "  treason  "  pretence.  If 
an  act  of  war,  committed  by  a  State,  makes  its  citi 
zens  enemies,  ipso  facto,  without  reference  to  any 
conduct  of  their  own,  it  must  follow,  of  logical 
necessity,  that  all  belligerent  acts,  done  by  the  citi 
zen,  are  the  acts  of  the  State  and  not  of  the  individ 
ual,  and  that  they  entail  on  the  latter  only  the 
responsibility  which  attaches  to  enemies  in  arms, 
flagrante  bello,  and  ceases  when  the  war  is  over. 
They  are,  in  the  language  of  Burke,  "  offences  of 
war,"  which  are  "  obliterated  by  peace." 

But,  be  this  as  it  may,  it  is,  at  all  events,  impos 
sible  to  dispute  one  logical  result  of  the  decision  in 
question,  viz. :  that  if  State  action  and  authority 
can  exonerate  the  individual  citizen  who  has  obeyed 
them,  from  the  crime  of  treason  to  the  United 
States  in  the  act  of  such  obedience,  neither  Mr. 
Davis  nor  any  other  Southern  citizen  or  soldier  can 
lawfully  be  charged  with  that  offence.  To  those 
who  recognize  the  broad  Southern  doctrine  of  the 


IMPRISONMENT  OF  JEFFERSON  DAVIS.  297 

right  of  secession,  as  expounded  and  defended  by 
Dr.  Bledsoe  in  a  remarkable  work,  entitled,  "  Is 
Davis  a  Traitor  ? "  the  case,  of  course,  presents  no 
difficulty  in  this  aspect.  The  exercise  of  a  right 
cannot  involve  a  crime,  and  upon  that  theory  the 
several  State  ordinances  dissolved,  at  once,  the  rela 
tion  and  responsibility  of  the  citizen  to  the  general 
Government.  Under  the  modified  doctrine,  main 
tained  with  so  much  ability  by  Mr.  Bayard,  of  Dela 
ware,  the  case  is  equally  clear — for  assuming,  with 
him,  the  right  of  any  of  the  States  to  withdraw 
from  the  constitutional  compact,  as  sovereigns, 
whenever  in  their  judgment  its  terms  are  infringed, 
coupled  with  the  equal  right  of  the  other  States  to 
make  war  on  those  seceding,  if  they  deem  the  seces 
sion  to  be  causeless — it  is  still  a  question  of  war  be 
tween  sovereigns,  involving  belligerent  rights  and 
their  consequences,  but  merging  all  responsibility  of 
the  individual  citizen  on  either  side.  Nor  is  it  easy 
to  perceive  how  a  different  practical  result  can  be 
arrived  at  under  the  doctrine  of  Mr.  Buchanan's 
message  to  the  Congress  of  December,  1860.  That 
message,  although  since  denounced  with  unexam 
pled  bitterness,  undoubtedly  represented  at  the 
time  the  opinion  of  nearly  all  the  leaders  of  the 
Democratic  party  North,  who  were  not  secessionists 
avowed,  and  on  the  faith  of  it  they  pledged  them 
selves,  as  every  one  remembers,  to  interpose  their 


298  REMINISCENCES  OF  JEFFERSON  DAVIS. 

bodies,  in  the  most  heroic  manner,  between  the 
coercionists  on  their  own  soil  and  their  cherished 
brethren  of  the  South.  That  they  apostatized  from 
their  convictions  and  falsified  their  pledges  as  never 
a  great  party  was  known  to  do  before ;  that  they 
not  only  did  not  attempt  to  resist  the  advancing 
armies  of  abolitionism  and  coercion,  but  applied,  in 
crowds,  at  once,  for  captaincies,  colonelcies,  major- 
generalships  and  particularly  paymasterships,  as 
they  had  been  wont  to  rush  for  places  in  the  post- 
offices  and  the  custom-houses,  in  the  bygone  and 
beloved  days  of  "  rotation "  and  "  the  spoils,"  is 
well  known  to  all  who  are  acquainted  with  the  an 
nals  of  political  cowardice,  bad  faith  and  prostitu 
tion.  But,  as  we  have  said,  before  the  Dickinsons, 
the  Bancrofts,  the  Butlers,  and  such  like  had  been 
taught  the  inestimable  value  (in  currency)  of  "  the 
life  of  the  nation,"  they  agreed  with  Mr.  Buchanan, 
that  even  if  there  was  no  constitutional  right  to  se 
cede,  there  was  no  constitutional  right  to  coerce  a 
State  seceding.  This  being  admitted,  and  the 
States  having  resisted,  "  as  States,"  the  exercise  of 
an  unconstitutional  power,  it  would  seem  necessarily 
to  follow,  that  their  authority  in  such  resistance  was 
a  legal  protection  and  security  to  their  citizens- — un 
less  it  can  be  shown  that  a  State  can  repel  an 
armed  assault  upon  its  rights,  without  the  aid  of  its 
people,  and  that  they  commit  a  crime  in  aiding  it  to 


IMPRISONMENT  OF  JEFFERSON  DAVIS.  299 

resist  a  forcible  breach  of  the  Constitution.  It  was 
upon  this,  among  other  grounds,  that  the  Legisla 
ture  of  Maryland,  in  1861,  asserted  the  right  of  the 
State,  if  she  saw  fit,  to  prevent  the  passage  of  Fed 
eral  troops  across  her  soil,  on  their  march  to  coerce 
and  invade  the  South.  The  right  to  coerce  being 
denied,  under  the  Constitution,  it  was  assumed  to 
follow,  that  the  assemblage  and  movement  of  troops 
for  the  purpose  of  coercion  was  a  palpable  violation  of 
the  Constitution,  in  furtherance  of  which  the  Fed 
eral  Government  could  hot  claim  the  right  of  tran 
sit,  which  belonged  to  it  only  in  aid  and  pursuance 
of  its  constitutional  functions  and  powers. 

And  this  leads  to  a  view  of  the  immediate  ques 
tion  under  discussion,  which  we  have  never  seen  pre 
sented,  although  it  appears  to  be  obvious,  and  would 
certainly  seem  to  dispose  of  the  charge  of  treason, 
so  far  as  concerns  Mr.  Davis  and  all  others  in  like 
case  with  him.  It  has  the  great  advantage,  too,  of 
being  connected,  in  no  way,  with  the  exciting  ques 
tions  of  secession  and  coercion,  and  of  involving  no 
decision  as  to  the  right  or  wrong  of  the  action  which 
the  seceding  States  deemed  themselves  justified  in 
adopting. 

Whatever  may  be  said  as  to  State  rights  and 
State  sovereignty,  in  the  Southern  or  Democratic 
sense  of  those  terms,  no  one  entitled  to  be  heard 
will  deny,  we  presume,  that  the  States  are,  in  some 


300  EEMINISCENCES  OF  JEFFERSON  DAVIS. 

respects,  sovereign,  and  have  rights,  of  some  sort, 
attached  to  their  sovereignty.  That  the  rights  they 
thus  possess  are  as  incapable  of  violation,  without  a 
violation  of  the  Constitution,  and  as  fully  entitled  to 
protection  and  vindication,  as  the  rights  delegated 
to  the  general  Government,  is  of  course  equally  in 
disputable.  Let  it  be  assumed,  for  the  sake  of  the 
argument,  that  some  clear  and  conceded  constitu 
tional  right  of  a  State,  or  of  all  the  States,  is  in 
vaded  or  about  to  be  invaded  by  the  Federal  power 
— that  some  unquestionable  attribute  of  State  sov 
ereignty  is  about  to  be  assailed,  in  a  manner  which 
will  be  incontestably  in  derogation  of  the  Constitu 
tion.  In  many  of  such  cases,  a  judicial  solution  of 
the  difficulty  may  be  practicable.  There  are  others, 
of  course — and  especially  when  the  scheme  of  usurpa 
tion  is  instant  and  forcible — in  which  delay  puts  an 
end  to  the  possibility  of  defence  or  remedy.  As 
sume,  for  instance,  that  a  usurping  President,  under 
the  direction  of  a  usurping  Congress  or  despising 
the  remonstrances  of  a  faithful  one,  is  about  to  over 
throw  a  State  Government,  by  force  of  arms,  and 
appropriate  its  territory  to  his  own  or  the  Federal 
uses,  in  acknowledged  violation  and  contempt  of  the 
fundamental  law.  Let  it  be  a  case  in  which  liberty 
is  sought  to  be  crushed  as  well  as  right.  Can  there 
be  any  dispute  as  to  the  duty  and  right  of  the  State 
Government,  to  resist  such  an  aggression,  by  force  if 


IMPKISONMEOT  OF  JEFFEKSON  DAVIS.  301 

it  can — to  marshal  its  troops,  and  defend  its  soil  and 
the  freedom  of  its  people,  by  all  the  means  within 
its  reach?  Can  the  right  and  duty  of  the  sister 
States  to  join  in  such  resistance  be  denied  ?  And 
by  right  and  duty,  we  mean,  not  in  a  revolutionary 
nor  a  merely  moral  sense,  but  under  the  Constitu 
tion,  in  order  to  resist  its  overthrow  and  maintain 
its  inviolability  ?  Surely  none  but  the  most  besot 
ted  of  consolidationists  can  say  nay  to  these  in 
quiries.  In  the  twenty-eighth  number  of  the  Feder 
alist,  General  Hamilton  himself  lays  it  down  as  "  an 
axiom  in  our  political  system,  that  the  State  Govern 
ments,  within  all  possible  contingencies,  afford  com 
plete  security  against  invasions  of  the  public  liberty 
by  the  national  authority.  .  .  .  Possessing  all  the 
organs  of  civil  power  and  the  confidence  of  the 
people,  they  can  at  once  adopt  a  regular  plan  of  op 
position,  in  which  they  can  combine  all  the  resources 
ot  the  community.  They  can  readily  communicate 
with  each  other,  in  the  different  States,  and  unite 
their  common  forces  for  the  protection  of  their  com 
mon  liberty."  Mr.  Madison  expands  the  same  idea 
over  the  whole  of  the  forty-sixth  number,  in  which 
he  endeavors  to  allay  all  apprehensions  of  danger 
from  the  Federal  power,  by  showing  that  "its 
schemes  of  usurpation  will  be  readily  defeated  by 
the  State  Governments,  which  will  be  supported  by 
the  people."  Indeed,  he  denounces  with  indigna- 


302  KEMINISCENCES  OF  JEFFEKSON   DAVIS. 

tion  those  who  "  insult  the  free  and  gallant  citizens 
of  America  "  by  the  suspicion  that  they  would  hesi 
tate  about  thus  defending  their  liberties.  Assum 
ing,  then,  that  there  are  cases,  few  or  many,  in 
which  the  Federal  Government  may  trench,  with 
violence,  upon  the  acknowledged  rights  and  sover 
eignty  of  the  States,  and  that  the  States  have  the 
right  to  resist  its  aggressions  by  force — which  they 
must  have,  unless  we  are  slaves — who  is  to  deter 
mine  when  and  whether  such  an  occasion  has  arisen  ? 
Not  the  Federal  Government,  of  course,  for  that 
would  reduce  the  right  of  resistance  to  an  absurdity. 
The  Supreme  Court,  in  the  well-known  case  of  Mar 
tin  vs.  Mott,*  involving  the  exercise  of  the  military 
powers  of  the  Federal  Executive  in  certain  contin 
gencies  of  invasion  or  insurrection,  determined,  that 
from  the  nature  of  the  powers  and  the  objects  to  be 
accomplished,  the  officer  entrusted  with  the  authority 
is  the  sole  and  exclusive  judge  whether  the  exigency 
has  arisen.  In  the  parallel  case  of  Luther  vs.  Bor- 
den  f  the  court  has  added  "  that  the  ordinary  pro 
ceedings  in  courts  of  justice  would  be  utterly  unfit 
for  the  crisis."  By  inevitable  parity  of  reason,  the 
States,  in  the  cases  I  have  assumed,  and  in  a  like 
crisis,  must  be  the  judges  of  their  exigency  also, 
and  so  being,  the  exercise  of  their  judgment  and 
their  commands  to  their  citizens,  in  that  exercise, 

*  12  Wheaton,  19.  f  7  How.  44. 


IMPRISONMENT  OF  JEFFERSON  DAVIS.  303 

must  be  a  shield  to  the  citizens  who  obey.  In  the 
case  of  Mitchell  vs.  Harmony  *  the  Supreme  Court 
decided,  that  where  a  superior  has  a  lawful  discre 
tion  and  exercises  it,  the  inferior  whom  he  com 
mands  is  justified  in  his  obedience,  and  cannot  be 
held  responsible,  though  a  wrong  to  third  parties 
may  result  from  it,  and  though  the  superior  "  may 
have  abused  his  power,  or  acted  through  improper 
motives."  This  doctrine,  which  is  founded  on  rea 
son  as  well  as  authority,  seems  to  place  the  conclu 
sion  above  controversy,  that  where  one  of  the 
States  of  the  Union,  in  the  exercise  of  its  undoubted 
right  to  resist  a  Federal  usurpation,  sees  fit  to  de 
termine  that  a  case  for  such  resistance  has  arisen, 
the  citizen  who  acts  under  the  State  authority,  and 
is  punishable  under  its  laws  if  he  refuses  so  to  act, 
is  not  responsible  to  the  Federal  tribunals,  though 
the  State  may  have  exercised  its  discretion  un 
wisely,  or  prematurely,  or  even  wrongfully,  in  the 
premises.  Whether  the  State  has  "abused  its 
power,  or  acted  through  improper  motives,"  is  a 

matter  for  the  State  and  the  Union  to  settle,  but  the 

• 

citizen  is  shielded,  let  it  be  settled  as  it  may. 

I  have  suggested  these  points  (from  among  the 
many  which  present  themselves)  with  the  necessary 
brevity,  and  rather  for  the  mere  sake  of  truth  and 
right,  than  from  any  hope  that  such  things  will  be 

*  13  Howard,  137. 


304  REMINISCENCES  OF  JEFFERSON  DAVIS. 

heeded.  When  a  judge  of  the  highest  tribunal  of 
the  United  States,  like  Mr.  Justice  Grier,  in  deliver 
ing  its  opinion  upon  the  gravest  case  ever  presented 
to  its  consideration,  is  so  lost  to  the  decencies  of  his 
position  as  to  sneer  at  an  objection  to  Executive 
action,  on  the  ground  of  its  unconstitutionally,  and 
to  print  the  word  "  unconstitutional ! ! !  "  in  italics 
and  with  three  notes  of  admiration,  in  order  to  make 
his  contempt  typographically  conspicuous,*  it  is,  we 
fear,  but  wasted  time,  to  appeal  to  any  principle  of 
the  Constitution,  however  solemn,  which  stands 
between  fanaticism  or  vindictiveness  and  the  victim 
for  whom  they  rage. 

But  were  Mr.  Davis  ever  so  much  the  "  traitor " 
that  the  Holts  and  Butlers  call  him,  he  would  still 
have  some  rights — the  right  to  a  speedy  and  impar 
tial  trial  under  the  provisions  of  the  Constitution 
which  he  is  accused  of  having  violated — the  right  to 
be  bailed,  if  the  Government  declines  to  try  him. 
Need  we  quote  anew  the  language  of  the  fifth  and 
sixth  Amendments  to  the  Constitution,  unhappily 
too  well  remembered  through  the  land,  from  the  con 
tempt  with  which  the  usurpations  of  the  war  went 
trampling  daily  over  them  ?  When  the  sixth  article 
declares  that  in  "  all  criminal  prosecutions,  the  ac 
cused  shall  enjoy  the  right  to  a  speedy  and  impartial 
trial,"  does  it  mean  that  he  shall  be  mocked,  for 

*  2  Black,  663. 


IMPKISONMENT  OF  JEFFERSON  DAVIS.  305 

eighteen  weary  months  of  insolent  and  harassing 
outrage  and  delay,  by  every  subterfuge  that  official 
prevarication  can  devise  or  party  clamor  can  encour 
age  ?  Does  it  mean  that  he  shall  be  bandied  from 
military  commissions  to  judges  and  grand  juries ; 
that  Underwoods  and  Chandlers  and  Chases  shall 
hold  him  prisoner  at  their  will,  and  try  him  or  not, 
as  their  caprice  or  malice  may  suggest?  Does  it 
signify  that  Republican  Conventions  shall  determine 
upon  the  disposition  to  be  made  of  him,  and  that 
Radical  orators  shall  insist  on  his  being  held,  that 
they  may  make  a  standing  clap-trap  of  his  life  and 
his  gibbet  ?  Does  it  mean  that  the  civil  authorities 
are  not  to  try  him,  because  the  military  authorities 
have  him  in  custody,  and  are  not  to  deliver 
him  from  that  custody  on  habeas  corpus,  lest  they 
should  then  have  to  try  him  ?  Does  the  Constitu 
tion  of  the  United  States  intend  that  the  President 
shall  have  the  power  to  hand  the  prisoner  over  to 
the  civil  authority — in  other  words,  to  pass  him 
from  his  own  military  hand  to  his  civil  hand — and 
yet  not  have  the  power  to  see  that  the  civil  author 
ity,  of  which  he  is  the  head,  discharges  its  duty  or 
releases  its  prisoner  ?  Time  was.  when  to  ask  these 
questions  were  an  insult.  It  is,  now,  perhaps  only  to 
provoke  an  official  smile  at  the  weakness  which  still 
talks  about  the  Constitution  ! 

We  read  in  the  very  highest  English  authority 
20 


306  REMINISCENCES  OF  JEFFEKSON  DAVIS. 

upon  criminal  law  and  practice  *  that  "  The  princi 
pal  ground  for  bailing,  upon  habeas  corpus,  and  in 
deed  the  evil  the  writ  was  intended  to  remedy,  is 
the  neglect  of  the  accuser  to  prosecute  in  due  time. 
Even  in  case  of  high  treason,  where  the  party  has 
been  committed  upon  the  warrant  of  the  Secretary  of 
State,  after  a  year  has  elapsed  ivithout  his  prosecution, 
the  court  will  discharge  him,  upon  adequate  security 
being  given  for  his  appearance."  As  early  as  the 
close  of  the  Revolution  of  1776,  Mr.  Henry  Laurens, 
then  a  prisoner  in  the  Tower,  was  able  to  satisfy  one 
of  the  British  peers  who  visited  him,  that  the  writ  of 
Jiabeas  corpus  was  already  more  speedily  and  thorough 
ly  remedial  in  the  colonies  than  in  the  mother  country.. 
And  yet  there  are  those  who  think  that  we  have  im 
proved  on  the  in  stitutions  of  that  generation  and  the 
wisdom  and  patriotism  of  the  men  who  made  them. 

There  is  but  one  more  topic  which  the  imprison 
ment  of  Mr.  Davis  suggests,  and  upon  that  I  touch 
with  the  reluctance  which  comes  from  utter  disgust 
and  shame.  We  refer,  of  course,  to  the  personal  in 
dignities  which  have  attended  it — indignities  at 
which  the  gorge  of  every  decent,  dispassionate  man 
in  the  wide  world  must  rise,  and  the  obloquy  of 
which  must  rest  more  heavily  forever  on  the  nation 
which  has  tolerated  them,  than  even  on  the  ruffians 
in  office,  who  had  the  baseness  to  direct  their  perpe- 

*  1  Chitty's  Criminal  Law,  131. 


IMPRISONMENT  OF  JEFFERSON  DAVIS.  307 

trtation.  There  is  something  in  the  very  idea  of  an 
old  and  honored  citizen — once  a  Cabinet  officer  of 
the  nation,  and  unsurpassed  in  the  ability  with 
which  his  duties  were  discharged — a  man  of  elo 
quence  and  thought — a  Senator  and  statesman — a 
soldier  whose  body  is  scarred  with  honorable  wounds 
suffered  in  the  service  of  his  country — a  pure  and 
upright  public  servant,  whose  lips  were  never  sullied 
by  falsehood  and  whose  hands  are  clean  of  corrup 
tion — there  is  something,  I  say,  in  the  mere  idea 
that  such  a  man — wasted  by  disease  and  physically 
broken  by  disaster — should  be  manacled  and  fet 
tered,  with  barbarous  violence,  in  a  fortress  of  this 
Republic — which  'must  call  the  blush  to  every 
American  cheek  that  conscious  disgrace  can  redden. 
But  even  shame  must  give  way  to  indignation  and 
scorn,  when  it  is  remembered  that  the  infamy  was 
perpetrated  by  the  order  of  the  very  department 
over  which  the  victim  once  presided  with  so  much 
usefulness  and  honor;  that  it  was  commanded  in 
utter  wantonness,  merely  to  lacerate  and  sting  a 
sensitive,  proud  spirit,  and  that  a  general  of  the 
armies  of  the  Union  was  the  gratified  instrument  of 
its  infliction.  It  recalls  the  last  days  of  the  Roman 
Republic,  when  the  tongue  of  a  Cicero,  captive  and 
murdered,  was  pierced  by  the  spiteful  bodkin  of  a 
strumpet.  And  even  this  outrage  of  the  manacles 
apart — the  story  of  daily  and  nightly  torments,  and 


308  REMINISCENCES  OF  JEFFERSON  DAVIS. 

hourly  petty  persecutions — of  needless  hardships 
and  discomforts,  and  gratuitous  insults — has  some 
thing  in  it  which  makes  belief  almost  impossible, 
without  a  contempt  for  our  race.  Then,  too,  the 
mean  espionage,  and  paltry  overlooking — the  swarm 
of  impertinent  men  and  women  let  loose  by  his 
jailor  on  his  feeble  walks  and  domestic  privacy — the 
sick  man  driven  to  his  cell  by  the  insufferable  peer 
ing  of  rude  and  vulgar  eyes — what  a  spectacle  these 
things  present  of  the  magnanimity  of  a  great  na 
tion  !  And  when  at  last  the  prisoner  is  allowed  the 
common  decencies  of  a  country  jail  and  is  permitted 
to  share  the  society  of  his  wife  and  children,  what  a 
clamor  over  the  land  it  causes — some  cursing  the 
indulgence — some  magnifying  the  generosity  of  the 
Government !  The  Associated  Press  anticipates  the 
wishes  of  the  War  Department  and  the  taste  of  its 
constituents,  by  exaggerating  the  "luxuries"  of 
"Jeff.'s"  new  and  commodious  quarters,  and  by 
telling  how  "grateful"  he  is  for  the  "clemency" 
which  has  been  extended  him.  The  readers  of  its 
despatches — ninety  out  of  an  hundred  of  them — are 
quite  sure  that  it  is  indeed  a  case  for  gratitude,  and 
that  the  "traitor"  ought  to  bless  his  stars  that, 
after  having  committed  the  awful  crime  of  enter 
taining  and  fighting  for  the  constitutional  opinions 
of  himself  and  his  fathers,  he  was  not  drawn  and 
quartered  for  it,  in  Faneuil  Hall,  after  morning 
prayer,  on  Lord's  day  following  his  arrest. 


REMINISCENCE. 

BY  GENERAI,   JOSEPH    WHEELER, 
Member  of  Congress  from  Alabama. 

MY  commission  as  lieutenant  of  cavalry  in  the 
United  States  Army  was  signed  by  Mr.  Lin 
coln  ;  but  my  warrant  as  a  cadet  at  the  Mili 
tary  Academy,  and  all  my  commissions  in  the  Con 
federate  Army,  were  signed  by  Mr.  Davis.  My  first 
recollection  of  this  remarkable  man  recalls  him  as  a 
visitor,  either  in  the  character  of  Secretary  of  War 
or  of  United  States  Senator,  to  the  Military  Academy 
at  West  Point  while  I  was  a  cadet.  Particularly  do 
I  remember  his  visit  in  the  autumn  of  1858.  He 
was  then  comparatively  young,  but  little  more  than 
fifty  years  of  age,  his  tall  and  erect  figure  and  sol 
dierly  bearing  giving  him  the  appearance  of  a  much 
younger  man?  His  military  reputation  won  at 
Buena  Yista  was  still  fresh,  and  added  much  to  at 
tract  to  him  the  youthful  cadets,  most  of  whom 
were  familiar  with  the  stirring  events  which  had 
made  him  famous. 

My  first  meeting  with  Mr.  Davis  during  the  war 
was  during  his  visit  to  the  army  at  Murfreesboro'  in 
December,  1862.  I  was  stationed  in  command  of 
the  outposts,  crowded  close  up  to  the  enemy,  and 

309 


310  EEMINISCENCES  OF  JEFFERSON  DAVIS. 

General  Bragg  invited  me  to  headquarters  and  to 
a  dinner,  at  which  the  corps  and  division  com 
manders  were  to  dine  with  the  President.  I  was 
quite  young  at  the  time,  barely  twenty-six  years  of 
age,  and  I  enjoyed  most  heartily  the  uninterrupted 
flow  of  wit  and  repartee  which  characterized  gather 
ings  composed  of  such  men  as  Davis,  Breckenridge, 
Polk,  Hardee  and  Bragg. 

The  battle  of  Murfreesboro'  took  place  immedi 
ately  after  this  event,  and  I  was  so  fortunate  as  to 
succeed  in  winning  the  approval  of  my  commander 
and  with  it  the  commission  of  Major-General.  It 
was  not  until  then  General  Bragg  told  me  that  Mr. 
Davis,  during  his  visit,  had  earnestly  insisted  upon 
then  giving  me  the  grade  of  Major-General  and 
placing  me  in  command  of  the  Department  of  the 
Gulf;  this  was,  however,  opposed  by  Bragg,  who 
urged  that  I  would  be  of  more  value  in  the  field. 
It  was  probably  fortunate  for  me  that  I  did  not  re 
ceive  the  appointment  and  transfer,* for  it  would 
have  deprived  me  of  much  active  service,  which  I 
preferred  to  the  more  quiet  duties  of  a  Department 
commander. 

I  did  not  see  Mr.  Davis  again  until  the  dying  days 
of  the  Confederacy,  at  Charlotte,  North  Carolina. 
It  was  two  weeks  after  the  fearful  struggle  of  Appo- 
mattox.  General  Johnston  had  withdrawn  his 
army  to  Greensboro',  and  was  negotiating  a  surren- 


REMINISCENCE.  311 

der  with  his  Federal  opponent,  General  Sherman. 
Mr.  Davis  sent  for  me  to  assist  in  arranging  his 
plans  and  to  determine  his  movements  at  that  criti 
cal  period.  I  found  him,  I  think,  it  was  the  morn 
ing  of  April  28th,  giving  directions  to  his  Cabinet 
with  a  precision  which,  by  no  means  indicated  that 
the  Government  of  which  he  was  the  head  had 
virtually  ceased  to  exist.  He  realized  that  he  could 
not  remain  at  Charlotte ;  and  his  desire  was  to  keep 
at  least  some  semblance  of  Government  together  as 
long  as  possible.  He  wished  as  large  a  force  of  cav 
alry  as  he  could  obtain  for  his  escort,  and  directed 
that  a  depot  be  established  at  Cokesboro',  South 
Carolina,  where  he  intended  to  remain  until  driven 
from  that  place  by  the  enemy. 

Mr.  Davis  seemed  surprised  when  informed  of  the 
condition  of  the  army,  that  the  soldiers  quite  gener 
ally  regarded  the  war  as  over,  and  thought  that 
their  obligations  to  the  Confederacy  were  discharged. 
He  also  appeared  greatly  disappointed  when  I  in 
formed  him  of  the  movements  of  Federal  cavalry, 
which  would  threaten  the  proposed  depot  at  Cokes 
boro'  ;  and  after  some  discussion,  I  was  directed  to 
organize  a  force  and  join  him  without  delay.  I  re 
turned  to  Greensboro',  hastily  complied  with  his  di 
rections,  and  started  by  rapid  march  to  join  him. 
The  conditions  became  so  greatly  altered  for  the 
worse  that  the  President  was  compelled  to  change 


312  REMINISCENCES  OF  JEFFERSON  DAVIS. 

his  plans,  and  I  was  directed  to  disband  the  force  of 
gallant  men  who  had  pledged  themselves  to  defend 
him  or  to  die  in  the  effort  to  accomplish  it. 

I  next  met  Mr.  Davis  at  Augusta,  Georgia.  He 
had  been  taken  prisoner  in  Southern  Georgia,  and  I 
had  been  arrested  upon  the  supposed  charge  of  not 
having  surrendered  with  General  Johnston's  army. 
We  went  to  Savannah  on  a  small  steamboat,  thence 
to  Hilton  Head,  where  we  boarded  the  transport 
"  Clyde,"  and,  conveyed  by  the  frigate  "  Tuscarora," 
we  sailed  for  Fortress  Monroe. 

Our  party  included  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Davis,  their 
daughter,  a  very  young  girl  in  short  dresses,  and 
Miss  Winnie,  a  baby  in  arms ;  also  Miss  Howell,  a 
sister  of  Mrs.  Davis,  Mr.  Keagan,  Senator  and  Mrs. 
C.  C.  Clay,  Alexander  Stephens,  Colonel  Preston 
Johnston,  Colonels  Lubboch  and  Burton  Harrison, 
of  Mr.  Davis'  staff,  and  my  three  staff  officers — 
Colonel  Marcellus  Hudson,  Captain  Rawle  and 
Lieutenant  Ryan. 

We  formed  a  very  pleasant  group,  and  consider 
ing  all  things,  enjoyed  the  trip  more  than  might 
have  been  expected.  Mr.  Davis'  noble  courage  never 
forsook  him  for  a  moment;  he  was  perfectly  calm, 
and  seemed  to  have  no  regard  for  himself  or  his 
fate.  He  fully  appreciated  the  sad  condition  of  the 
people  of  the  Confederacy,  and  much  that  he  said 
showed  how  clearly  his  penetrating  mind  peered  into 


KEMINISCENCE.  313 

the  future.  He  talked  of  the  war,  of  our  successes 
and  defeats,  of  the  difficulties  against  which  we  had 
contended,  of  the  courage  and  devotion  of  our  sol 
diers;  and  to  some  extent  he  spoke  of  the  officers 
who  had  become  prominent  on  both  sides  during  the 
eventful  period  in  which  he  had  been  so  important  a 
figure.  • 

I  saw  two  possible  chances  for  his  escape,  both  of 
which  I  made  known  to  him,  but  he  expressed  him 
self  as  not  desiring  to  make  the  attempt.  It  was 
evident  that  he  felt  his  relief  from  responsibility, 
and  amid  all  his  trials  and  troubles  he  evidently  en 
joyed  the  pleasure  of  having  a  few  days  which  he 
could  so  entirely  devote  to  his  family.  He  walked 
the  deck  with  his  baby  Winnie  in  his  arms,  and  fre 
quently  allowed  me  the  same  privilege,  which  I 
was  always  delighted  to  accept.  We  were  at  sea 
several  days,  the  "  Tuscarora  "  always  being  near  us. 

Mr.  Stephens  and  myself  occupied  the  same  state 
room.  He  was  less  cheerful  than  Mr.  Davis,  and 
seemed  very  much  more  apprehensive  regarding  our 
fate.  I  tried  to  reassure  him,  and  reminded  him  of 
his  Savannah  speech  and  of  his  extensive  acquain 
tance  with  men  who  held  prominent  positions  in  the 
Government;  but  my  arguments  were  without  ef 
fect,  and  he  expressed  himself  as  convinced  that  his 
confinement  would  be  very  long,  if  not  perpetual. 
I  said:  "Why,  Mr.  Stephens,  if  you  expect  such 


314  REMINISCENCES  OF  JEFFEKSON  DAVIS. 

treatment,  what  about  Mr.  Davis  ?  "  His  only  reply 
was  :  "  My  young  friend,  do  not  speak  of  it." 

On  reaching  Fortress  Monroe  we  found  the  more 
radical  press  of  the  country,  backed  by  an  excited 
people,  loudly  demanding  blood ;  but  even  this  did 
not  move  Mr.  Davis  in  the  slightest.  While  he 
seemed  ready  for  anything,  he  appeared  to  fear 
nothing.  We  saw  a  fine  steamboat,  with  probably 
a  thousand  flags  and  streamers  flying  from  the 
masts,  spars  and  rigging ;  and  on  inquiring,  we  were 
informed  that  General  Halleck  was  on  board,  his 
mission  being  to  dispose  of  the  prisoners. 

Orders  were  received  on  the  next  day.  Mr. 
Davis  and  Mr.  Clay  were  sent  ashore  to  the  fort. 
Captain  Farley,  of  the  "  Tuscarora,"  was  ordered  to 
transport  Mr.  Stephens  and  Mr.  Reagan  to  Fort 
Warren.  Colonel  Preston  Johnson,  my  staff  of 
ficers  and  myself  were  sent  by  Captain  Parker,  of 
the  steamer  "  Maumee,"  to  Fort  Delaware. 

I  met  Mr.  Davis  in  New  Orleans  some  two  or 
three  years  later,  and  again  saw  more  of  him  during 
the  period  he  was  a  citizen  of  Memphis,  where  he 
was  earnestly  engaged  in  an  effort  to  recuperate  his 
broken  fortunes.  In  private  conversations  with  him 
I  learned  to  appreciate  the  difficulties  which  sur 
rounded  Mr.  Davis  during  a  trying  period,  which 
would  have  crushed  many  a  brave  spirit.  This 
great  man  was  undaunted  to  the  last,  solving  every 


REMINISCENCE.  315 

problem,  surmounting  obstacle  after  obstacle,  and 
braving  difficulties  before  which  a  less  noble  spirit 
would  have  succumbed. 

Probably  no  man  in  this  country  has  ever  been 
so  thoroughly  misrepresented  and  misunderstood  as 
Mr.  Davis.  Nearly  every  utterance  of  his  has  been 
misinterpreted  or  misconstrued.  It  has  been  charged 
that  he  lived  too  much  in  the  past,  and  took  too  lit 
tle  part  in  the  great  strides  of  this  progressive,  ma 
terial  age ;  but  the  more  thoughtful  will  concur  in 
the  view  that  his  peculiar  position  fully  justified  his 
action.  He  was  the  special  custodian  of  the  history 
of  events,  which  constitute  the  most  important 
period  of  our  national  existence,  and  it  might  well 
be  contended  that  his  life  should  have  been  conse 
crated  to  the  cause  of  which  he  was  the  leader. 

Mr.  Davis  was  too  thorough  a  student  of  the 
events  of  both  modern  and  ancient  times  to  doubt 
the  verdict  of  the  calm  historian.  Pie  knew  that 
when  passions  have  subsided  and  when  the  lines  of 
sectionalism  are  obliterated,  the  unbiassed  pen  of 
history  will  record  his  deeds  and  his  true  worth 
will  be  appreciated  by  posterity.  This  has  been 
the  case  with  all  great  civil  conflicts.  History  tells 
of  the  brave  and  chivalrous  deeds  of  the  heroes  of 
both  sides  in  such  struggles,  and  in  their  admiration 
for  types  of  true  nobility,  people  will  not  stop  to  in 
quire  who  were  finally  the  victors  and  who  the  van- 


316  BEMINISCENCES  OF  JEFFEKSON  DAVIS. 

quished.  In  reading  the  heroic  deeds  performed 
during  the  War  of  the  Roses,  is  our  admiration  in 
fluenced  by  the  thought  of  whether  the  hero  fought 
with  the  victorious  hosts  of  York  or  beneath  the 
crimson  banner  of  Lancaster  ?  Certainly  the  glory 
of  the  gallant  men  who  so  bravely  struggled  in  the 
Vende'e  is  not  tarnished  by  the  fact  that  the  over 
whelming  power  of  the  French  Republic  finally 
crushed  them  to  the  dust.  The  same  is  true  of  the 
fruitless  efforts  of  Marco  Bozarris  to  establish  free 
dom  in  Greece,  and  of  the  valiant  Poles  to  maintain 
the  integrity  and  independence  of  their  Govern 
ment  and  the  freedom  of  their  native  land. 


ADDRESS 

BY  MAJOR   CHARTS   S.    STRINGFKUXDW. 
Delivered  December  zist,  in  the  Academy  of  Music,  Richmond,  Va. 

IN  the  historic  capital  of  Lombardy  there  is  a  mon 
ument,  modest  in  proportions,  but  yet  of  exqui 
site  beauty  and  design.  A  solid  block  of  white 
marble  rests  upon  a  base  to  which  lead  some  five  or 
six  steps.  Upon  this  block,  of  life-size,  is  the  statue 
of  a  man  in  senatorial  robes,  and  kneeling  at  its  base 
is  the  figure  of  a  woman  supporting  herself  with  one 
arm  resting  on  the  block  at  the  feet  of  the  statue 
and  with  the  other  outstretched,  with  pen  in  hand, 
writing  upon  the  marble  the  single  word  "  Cavour." 
The  idea,  as  I  interpret  it,  is  simply  this :  When 
Italy  writes  the  name  of  her  great  son  she  need  add 
no  epitaph  to  tell  the  world  who  and  what  he  was. 

And  quite  as  little  need  have  I  to  address  to  this 
vast  assemblage  any  labored  argument  in  behalf  of 
the  object  which  has  called  it  together.  It  is  enough 
for  you  to  know  that  you  have  met  to  give  point  and 
emphasis  to  the  wish,  the  earnest,  heartfelt  desire, 
not  merely  of  the  citizens  of  Kichmond,  but  of  the 
whole  people  of  this  good  old  Commonwealth,  that 
the  mortal  remains  of  Jefferson  Davis  may  find  their 
final  resting-place  here  in  our  beautiful  city,  so  indel- 

317 


318  REMINISCENCES  OF  JEFFERSON  DAVIS. 

ibly  linked  with  his  name  and  his  fame.  I  need 
prefix  no  title  to  that  name,  for  all  men  know,  and 
while  they  cherish  the  memory  of  the  great  and  the 
good  who  adorn  the  annals  of  the  world,  will  know 
that  he  was  the  first  and  only  President  of  that  Con 
federacy  which,  in  its  heroic  struggle  to  perpetuate 
constitutional  liberty  and  preserve  constitutional  law, 
excited  the  wonder  and  compelled  the  admiration  of 
mankind ;  and  which,  though  like  a  meteor  it  rose 
upon  the  sight  of  the  nations  and  like  a  meteor  fell, 
has  left  behind  it  a  blaze  of  light  which  will  never 
go  out  in  utter  darkness  until  mankind  shall  cease  to 
honor  courage,  love  justice,  and  respect  that  unselfish 
devotion  to  duty  which,  in  defence  of  honest  opin 
ions  honestly  entertained,  is  willing  to  risk  and  lose 
fortune,  life,  and  all  save  honor. 

WAS  A  GALLANT  SOLDIER. 

That  Jefferson  Davis  was  a  gallant  soldier  even 
his  bitterest  opponent  has  never  dared  deny.  When 
a  member  of  the  Congress  of  the  United  States  he 
resigned  his  high  and  honorable  office  to  accept  the 
command  of  the  First  Mississippi  Volunteers,  to 
which  he  had  been  called  by  his  neighbors  and 
friends,  who  best  knew  those  great  qualities  of  head 
and  heart  which  even  then  pointed  him  out  as  one 
born  to  rule.  As  colonel  of  that  regiment  he  distin 
guished  himself  at  Monterey  and  at  Buena  Vista  by 


ADDRESS.  319 

his  instinctive  military  perceptions  and  superb  cour 
age  on  the  field,  more  than  any  other  man  contrib 
uted  to  win  the  victory  which  shed  such  renown  on 
American  arms.  Tendered  the  promotion  he  had  so 
nobly  won  with  his  sword,  he  refused  to  accept  it 
because  he  doubted  the  power  of  the  President  to 
appoint  to  office  in  the  volunteer  troops  which  the 
States  had  raised.  In  1847,  as  in  1861,  regardless  of 
self,  he  was  mindful  of  and  obedient  to  law,  and 
above  all  to  that  law  which,  as  embodied  in  the  Con 
stitution,  was  then,  as  now,  the  bond  of  our  great 
Union. 

IN  THE  CABINET  AND  SENATE. 

As  a  Cabinet  officer  he  discharged  the  duties  inci 
dent  to  that  position  with  such  fidelity  and  ability 
as  to  win  universal  applause.  Calm,  dispassionate 
and  self-reliant,  he  was  a  wise  counselor,  and,  sinking 
all  private  interests  in  his  love  for  the  public  weal, 
left  behind  a  reputation  for  administrative  capacity 
and  incorruptible  integrity  second  to  none.  But  he 
was  not  content  to  be  an  adviser  only,  and  originated 
reforms  of  great  and  far-reaching  importance,  the 
value  of  which  is  still  felt  and  acknowledged. 

A  laborious  student,  with  a  memory  almost  phe 
nomenal,  and  a  profound  knowledge  of  the  history 
and  institutions  of  his  country,  he  was  one  of  the 
acknowledged  leaders  and  ablest  debaters  in  the  Sen 
ate  when  that  body  was  graced  by  such  men  as  Ben- 


320  REMINISCENCES  OF  JEFFERSON  DAVIS. 

ton,  Cass,  Webster,  Clay  and  Calhoun.  Clear  in  his 
perceptions  and  firm  in  his  convictions,  by  force  of 
his  imperial  will,  incorruptible  honor  and  great  abili 
ties,  he  maintained  his  opinions  with  a  power  of  logic, 
a  perfect  command  of  language  and  a  determined 
purpose  which  ever  made  him  an  ally  to  be  courted 
and  an  opponent  to  be  feared.  He  was  ardently  at 
tached  to  the  Union  of  our  fathers,  and  loved  its 
flag,  which  he  himself  had  borne  to  victory,  and  he 
looked  to  the  dissolution  of  that  Union  as  the  direst 
of  all  calamities  save  the  destruction  of  individual 
freedom  and  those  great  principles  of  constitutional 
law  upon  which  that  union  was  founded.  He  con 
sented  to  sever  its  bonds  only  when  convinced  that 
in  no  other  way  could  these  principles  be  preserved 
— only  when  satisfied  that  they  had  been  deliberately 
disregarded,  and  that  the  best  interests  of  social  and 
individual  liberty  demanded  that  the  Southern 
States  should  revoke  those  powers  they  had  conferred 
upon  the  General  Government,  which,  as  he  believed, 
had  been  perverted  to  the  threatened  ruin  of  the 
States  by  whom  they  had  been  granted.  No  man 
had  a  more  profound  appreciation  of  the  tremendous 
consequences  which  secession  involved  or  more  bit 
terly  regretted  its  necessity. 

GOOD,  PURE,  ABLE,  BRAVE. 

One  of  the  best  and  purest,  and,  all  things  con 
sidered,  the  ablest  exponents  and  embodiments  of  the 


ADDKESS.  321 

life  and  soul  of  southern  society  in  all  of  its  develop 
ments  and  relations,  though  when  war  was  imminent 
he  preferred  to  risk  his  life  on  the  field  in  defence  of 
the  cause  he  had  espoused,  he  was  called  to  the 
Presidency  of  the  Southern  Confederacy  by  the  al 
most  unanimous  voice  of  his  fellow-citizens.  The 
office  sought  him,  not  he  the  office,  for  Jefferson 
Davis 

"  Never  sold  the  truth  to  serve  the  hour, 
Nor  paltered  with  the  eternal  God  for  power." 

Never  was  man  placed  in  more  trying  circum 
stances,  never  did  man  undertake  a  more  herculean 
task  nor  sustain  himself  with  greater  dignity,  more 
lofty  courage,  and  unbending  determination,  or  more 
unfaltering  devotion  in  prosperity  and  adversity  to 
the  great  interests  committed  to  his  charge. 

NOT  PERFECT,  BUT  PUEE. 

Against  the  spotless  purity  of  our  illustrious  Chief 
tain  slander  itself  has  never  dared  to  breathe  one 
single  word.  To  say  that  he  made  no  mistakes 
would  be  to  claim  for  him  that  infallibility  which  is 
accorded  to  none.  Men  may  differ  as  to  the  wisdom 
or  expediency  of  some  of  the  measures  he  proposed 
and  some  which  he  carried  out,  but  no  man  denies 
to-day  that  his  motives  were  pure,  his  aims  high,  his 
convictions  honest,  and  his  every  energy  of  mind 

and  body  freely  given  to  his  country  and  her  cause. 
21 


322  REMINISCENCES  OF  JEFFERSON  DAVIS. 

An  ardent  patriot,  he  loved  this  southern  land,  for 
which  he  risked  and  lost  so  much,  and  for  whose 
people  he  suffered  so  greatly, 

"  With  love  far  brought 
From  out  the  storied  Past,  and  used 
Within  the  Present,  but  transfused 
Thro'  future  time  by  the  power  of  thought." 

But,  my  fellow-citizens,  brave  as  he  was  on  the 
battle-field,  wise  as  he  was  in  Cabinet  council,  superb 
as  he  was  on  the  Senate  floor,  and  grandly  as  he 
towered  above  all  others  as  the  chosen  head  and  un 
daunted  leader  of  the  Southern  Confederacy,  there 
was  one  character  in  which  he  shone  with  a  light 
more  resplendent  still — in  the  majesty  which  like  a 
halo  encompasses  around  the  honest,  true  and  fear 
less  Christian  man. 

"  O,  good  gray  head  which  all  men  knew  ; 
O,  voice  from  which  their  omens  all  men  drew, 
O,  iron  nerve  to  true  occasion  true  ; 

O,  fall'n  at  length  that  tower  of  strength 
Which  stood  four-square  to  all  the  winds  that  blew." 

THIS  THE  SPOT. 

What  more  suitable  spot  could  be  selected  for  that 
resting-place  than  this,  the  permanent  capital  of  the 
Southern  Confederacy,  forever  linked  as  it  is  with 
the  name  of  its  great  President,  and  with  its  hopes 
and  fears,  its  victories  and  defeats,  its  brilliant  rise 
and  its  honorable  fall  ?  And  who  would  more  sa 
credly  guard  his  tomb  than  the  citizens  of  this  capital 


ADDRESS.  323 

of  Old  Virginia,  in  whose  battle-scarred  bosom  lie 
countless  thousands  of  those  heroic  soldiers  whose 
march  from  Big  Bethel  to  Appomattox  is  blazed  in 
glory  ?  Richmond  was  the  gateway  and  citadel  of 
the  Southern  Confederacy,  and  its  burning  houses 
and  homes  its  grand  funeral  pyre ;  here  its  honored 
President  lived  and  moved,  and  had  his  being  in  the 
most  eventful  years  of  his  long  and  eventful  life. 
Here  still  stands  the  church  in  which  he  worshipped 
the  God  whom  alone  he  feared,  and  where  he  sat 
when  he  first  learned  that  the  southern  cause  was 
irretrievably  lost.  On  yonder  hill,  in  that  mansion 
historic  now  and  forever  safe,  I  trust,  from  the  van 
dal  hand  of  ill-timed  economy,  with  the  noble  wife 
who  still  lives  to  mourn  her  irreparable  loss  and  in 
whose  sacred  sorrow  every  one  here  present  claims 
a  share,  he  knew  the  purest  joys  and  the  deepest 
sorrows  earth  can  bring.  There  a  son,  the  pride 
and  the  hope  of  his  heart,  met  an  untimely  end,  and 
from  that  house  was  borne  to  his  little  grave  in  our 
City  of  the  Dead  which  loving  hands  still  tend. 
There  was  born  to  him  a  daughter,  whose  bruised 
heart  now  bleeds  in  a  foreign  land,  to  watch  over 
his  declining  years  and  soothe  with  tenderest  hand 
the  infirmities  of  age. 

LEFT  A  PRECIOUS  LEGACY. 

His  grand  life's  work  is  done,  but  his  name,  his 
fame,  and  his  example  remain  to  us  a  precious  leg- 


324  REMINISCENCES  OF  JEFFERSON  DAVIS. 

acy,  and  though  they  will  forever  remain  embalmed 
in  the  grand  mausoleum  of  a  great  people's  heart,  it 
is  fitting  that  some  appropriate  monument  should 
he  reared  by  that  people  to  tell  posterity  where  rests 
all  that  the  grave  can  claim  of  their  soldier,  states 
man,  patriot  chief. 

THERE  BEST  HILL,  STUAKT,  PICKETT  AND  PEGKAM. 

The  gallant  Hill  lies  under  the  grand  old  oaks  at 
Hollywood ;  there  the  knightly  Stuart  sleeps,  whose 
waving  plume  his  dashing  troopers  followed  in  many 
a  desperate  charge,  while  right  and  left  in  the  fore 
front  of  battle  flashed  his  glittering  sword.  There 
brave  Pickett  rests,  the  leader  of  that  heroic  brigade 
whose  unparalleled  courage  would  alone  make  the 
name  of  Gettysburg  immortal,  and  there  the  winter 
winds  chant  their  funeral-dirge  over  the  grave  of 
Richmond's  boy  hero,  the  stainless  Pegram,  in  all 
save  age  and  rank  the  peer  of  the  noblest,  while  all 
around  that  ivy-covered  granite-pile  which  we  have 
reared  in  their  honor  are  the  little  grass-grown  hil 
locks  which  tell  where  thousands  upon  thousands  of 
the  unknown  dead  who  followed  the  Confederate 
flag  with  courage  and  fortitude  almost  sublime  rest 
in  their  soldier  graves. 

Surely,  if  the  dead  could  speak  to  us  from  the 
unseen  world  it  would  be  in  the  midst  of  such  asso 
ciations  and  in  the  company  of  such  kindred  spirits 


ADDRESS.  325 

he  would  ask  to  lie.  Stonewall  Jackson's  statue 
already  stands  in  our  public  square,  and  before 
another  year  has  closed  the  figure  of  our  peerless 
Lee  shall  from  its  granite  pedestal  look  down  on  us. 
See  to  it,  my  fellow-citizens,  that  here,  too,  shall 
rise  some  appropriate  shaft  in  honor  of  our  and 
their  great  chief. 

HISTORIC  INFLUENCES. 

In  asking  that  his  final  interment  may  be  here  we 
honor  ourselves  no  less  than  him,  for  this  desire 
springs  from  the  noblest  sentiments  of  the  human 
heart.  Perhaps  I  overestimate  the  influence  which 
historic  monuments  and  the  associations  which  clus 
ter  around  the  graves  of  the  mighty  dead  exert  over 
a  people's  character  and  development.  Nevertheless 
that  magnificent  invocation  of  Demosthenes  to  the 
disembodied  spirits  of  those  who  fell  at  Marathon 
still  stirs  a  fever  in  the  veins  of  men.  The  Acro 
polis,  which  crowned  with  the  trophies  of  her  arms 
was  once  the  object  of  her  veneration,  is  still  the 
pride  of  Athens,  and  something  of  the  awe  with 
which  the  Roman  in  the  days  of  his  pride  and  power 
regarded  the  Capitoline  Rock  has  come  down 
through  all  the  intervening  ages  even  to  the  present 
day. 

RICHMOND  MUST  HAVE  THE    REMAINS. 

Enter  the  grand  old  Cathedral  at  Glasgow  by  the 
stone  steps  which  in  the  lapse  of  centuries  the  tread 


326  EEMINISCENCES  OF  JEFFERSON  DAVIS. 

of  human  feet  has  almost  worn  away  and  take  off 
your  hat  before  the  torn,  time-eaten  flag  hanging 
against  its  walls  which  the  Twenty-sixth  Cameronian 
Regiment  carried  to  victory  at  Malplacquet,  Oudinot 
and  Ramillies;  look  upon  the  splendid  monument 
to  old  John  Knox  which  crowns  the  cemetery  height 
in  rear  of  the  Cathedral,  then  stop  a  moment  before 
the  window  of  his  house  in  Edinburgh,  and  wander 
through  old  St.  Giles,  which  echoed  to  his  voice,  and 
stand  by  the  iron  plate  sunk  in  the  pavement  of  the 
street,  once  its  yard,  which  marks  his  grave  not  far 
from  the  little  heart  of  brass  which  tells  you  where 
the  centre  of  the  Tolbooth  was;  wonder  at  the 
beauty  of  those  superb  monuments  to  the  memory 
of  Scott  and  Burns  and  Hume ;  go  through  the  his 
toric  halls  of  Holyrood  and  Stirling  Castle,  visit  the 
field  of  Bannockburn  and  call  up  the  scenes  enacted 
there  when  Robert  the  Bruce  planted  his  standard 
by  the  rough  stone  at  your  feet ;  and  then,  when  you 
go  to  Melrose,  drop  a  sprig  of  heather  on  that  be 
neath  which  his  great  heart  was  buried,  and  I  think 
you  will  better  understand  the  Scotchman's  love  for 
his  native  land.  It  is  a  land  of  monuments  and 
memories,  and  out  from  its  storied  past  comes  an  in 
fluence  and  an  inspiration  whose  value  and  import 
ance  money  cannot  measure.  I  pity  the  man  who 
does  not  feel  his  heart  throb  with  a  somewhat  nobler 
feeling  as  he  looks  upon  the  magnificent  monuments 


ADDKESS.  327 

which  a  grateful  country  has  erected  under  the  grand 
old  dome  of  St.  Paul's  to  commemorate  the  deeds  of 
Nelson  and  Wellington  and  perpetuate  the  memories 
of  Trafalgar  and  Waterloo.  Cold  indeed  must  be  he, 
and  dead  to  all  the  highest,  holiest  impulses  of  our 
nature,  who  can  walk  unmoved  through  the  long 
aisles  of  England's  great  burial-place  for  the  soldiers 
and  statesmen,  the  poets  and  philosophers,  the  men 
of  thought  and  the  men  of  action  who  have  shed 
such  imperishable  glory  on  her  name,  who  cannot  to 
some  extent  at  least  sympathize  with  the  memorable 
exclamation  of  one  of  her  greatest  heroes  as  he  went 
into  battle — Victory  or  Westminster  Abbey !  Yes, 
my  fellow-citizens,  Richmond  must  have  the  remains 
of  our  noble  Chieftain,  and  here  we  must  rear  some 
suitable  monument  to  tell  to  our  children's  children 
the  story  of  his  heroic  life.  Let  no  such  word  as 
fail  be  found  in  the  lexicon  of  manhood  any  more 
than  in  that  of  youth  when  lofty  motives,  intelligent 
action  and  concerted  efforts  are  cheered  by  woman's 
presence  and  approval.  In  those  days  that  so  sorely 
tried  the  souls  of  her  men,  the  women  of  Virginia 
displayed  courage  as  true,  patriotism  as  pure,  and 
will  as  undaunted  as  the  Spartan  mother  who,  with 
tearless  eye,  bidding  good-bye  to  her  only  son  as  she 
sent  him  to  the  field,  pointed  to  his  shield  with  the 
simple  words  :  This  or  upon  this ! 

Many  of  them,  with  their  fair  daughters,  yet  sur- 


328  REMINISCENCES  OF  JEFFERSON  DAVIS. 

vive  to  bless  our  hearts  and  homes.  To  them  I 
make  no  appeal,  for  their  hearts  ever  beat  in  unison 
with  all  that  is  true,  all  that  is  beautiful  and  all  that 
is  good. 

Let  us,  then,  take  such  steps  as  may  be  necessary 
to  show,  not  in  words  only,  but  in  act  and  deed  as 
well,  the  sincerity  of  our  desire  to  be  trusted  with 
watch  and  ward  over  our  honored  dead  as  he  sleeps, 
crowned  with  the  reverence  and  the  love  of  his 
people. 

"So  sleep  the  brave  who  sink  to  rest, 
By  all  their  country's  wishes  blest ; 
By  fairy  hands  their  knell  ia  rung, 
By  forms  unseen  their  dirge  is  sung. 
There  Honor  comes,  a  pilgrim  gray, 
To  deck  the  turf  that  wraps  their  clay ; 
And  Freedom  shall  awhile  repair 
To  dwell,  a  weeping  hermit,  there." 


FUNERAL    ORATION* 

BY  COI«.    CHARLES   C.   JONES,   JR.,    U,.D., 
President  of  the  Confederate  Survivors'  Association. 

WHEN  Wilkie  was  in  the  Escurial  studying 
those  famous  pictures  which  have  so  long 
attracted  the  notice  of  all  lovers  of  art,  an 
old  Jeronymite  said  to  him :  "  I  have  sat  daily 
in  sight  of  those  paintings  for  nearly  four-score 
years.  During  that  time  all  who  were  more  aged 
than  myself  have  passed  away.  My  contemporaries 
are  gone.  Many' younger  than  myself  are  in  their 
graves;  and  still  the  figures  upon  those  canvases 
remain  unchanged.  I  look  at  them  until  I  some 
times  think  they  are  the  realities,  and  we  but  the 
shadows." 

The  battle  scenes  which  the  heroes  of  the  South 
have  painted;  the  memories  which  Confederate 
valor,  loyalty  and  endurance  have  bequeathed ;  the 
blessed  recollections  which  the  pious  labors,  the 
saintly  ministrations  and  the  more  than  Spartan 
inspiration  of  the  women  of  the  Revolution  have 
embalmed — these  will  dignify  for  all  time  the  an 
nals  of  the  civilized  world ;  but  the  actors  in  that 

*  Pronounced  in  the  Opera  House  in  Augusta,  Ga.,  December  llth, 
1889,  upon  the  occasion  of  the  Memorial  Services  in  honor  of  President 
Jefferson  Davis. 

329 


330  KEMINISCENCES  OF  JEFFERSON  DAVIS. 

memorable  crisis,  they — the  shadows — will  pass 
away.  Johnston — the  Bayard  of  the  South, — Jack- 
son_our  military  meteor  streaming  upward  and 
onward  in  an  unbroken  track  of  light,  and  ascend 
ing  to  the  skies  in  the  zenith  of  his  fame, — Lee — 
the  most  stainless  of  earthly  commanders  and,  ex 
cept  in  fortune,  the  greatest — and  multitudes  of 
their  companions  in  arms  have  already  gone 

"  To  where  beyond  these  voices  there  is  peace." 

But  yesterday  Jefferson  Davis — the  commander 
of  them  all — the  most  distinguished  representative 
of  a  cause  which  electrified  the  civilized  world  by 
the  grandeur  of  its  sacrifices,  the  dignity  and  recti 
tude  of  its  aims,  the  nobility  of  its  pursuit,  and  the 
magnitude  and  brilliancy  of  the  deeds  performed  in 
its  support — entered  into  rest.  The  President  of 
the  dead  Confederacy  lies  in  state  in  the  metropolis 
of  the  South,  and  every  Southern  Commonwealth  is 
clothed  in  the  habiliments  of  mourning.  At  this 
moment,  throughout  the  wide  borders  of  this  South 
ern  land,  there  is  not  a  village  or  a  hamlet  which 
bears  not  the  tokens  of  sorrow.  By  common  con 
sent,  the  entire  region  consecrates  this  hour  to  the 
observance  of  funeral  ceremonies  in  honor  of  our 
departed  chief.  General  and  heart-felt  grief  per 
vades  the  whole  territory  once  claimed  by  the  Con 
federacy.  Was  sorrow  so  spontaneous,  so  genuine, 
so  unselfish,  so  universal,  ever  known  in  the  history 


FUNERAL  OKATION.  331 

of  community  and  nation, — sorrow  at  the  departure 
of  one  who  long  ago  refrained  from  a  participation 
in  public  affairs,  who  had  no  pecuniary  or  political 
legacies  to  bequeath,  and  whose  supreme  blessings 
were  utterly  devoid  of  utilitarian  advantage  ?  This 
spectacle,  grand,  pathetic  and  unique,  is  not  incapa 
ble  of  explanation  or  devoid  of  special  significance. 

Within  that  coffin  in  New  Orleans  in  silent  ma 
jesty  reposes  all  that  was  mortal  of  him  whom  im 
partial  history  will  designate  as  one  of  the  most  re 
markable  men  of  the  nineteenth  century.  Around 
his  bier  in  profound  respect  and  loving  veneration 
are  assembled  the  trustworthy  representatives  of  tjie 
South.  Encircling  that  venerable  and  uncrowned 
head  are  memories  of  valor,  of  knightly  courtesy,  of 
intellectual,  moral  and  political  pre-eminence,  of 
high  endeavor,  and  of  heroic  martyrdom.  In  that 
dignified  form — so  calm,  so  cold  in  the  embrace  of 
death—we  recognized  the  highest  type  of  the  South 
ern  gentleman.  In  his  person,  carriage,  cultivated 
address  and  superior  endowments,  we  hailed  the 
culmination  of  our  patriarchal  civilization.  In  him 
was  personified  all  that  was  highest,  truest,  grandest, 
alike  in  the  hour  of  triumph  and  in  the  day  of  de 
feat.  He  was  the  chosen  head  and  the  prime  expo 
nent  of  the  aspirations  and  the  heroism  of  the 
Southern  Confederacy.  As  such  his  people  looked 
up  to  and  rallied  around  him  in  the  period  of  proud 


332  KEMINISCENCES  OF  JEFFERSON  DAVIS. 

endeavor,  and  as  such  they  still  saluted  him  amid 
the  gloom  of  disappointment.  As  we  approach  that 
revered  form  and  render  signal  tribute  at  the  grave 
of  our  dead  President,  every  recollection  of  a 
glorious  past  is  revived,  and  our  souls  are  filled  with 
memories  over  which  the  "iniquity  of  oblivion" 
should  never  be  allowed  blindly  to  "  scatter  her 
poppy."  It  is  a  great  privilege,  my  friends,  to  ren 
der  honor  to  this  illustrious  man.  Ours  be  the  mis 
sion  to  guard  well  his  memory — accepting  it  in  the 
present  and  commending  it  to  the  future  as  redolent 
of  manhood  most  exalted,  of  virtues  varied  and 
most  admirable. 

Although  no  Federal  flag  be  displayed  at  half- 
mast,  or  Union  guns  deliver  the  funeral  salute  cus 
tomary  upon  the  demise  of  an  ex-Secretary  of  War, 
we  may  regard  with  composure  the  littleness  of  the 
attempted  slight,  and  pity  the  timidity,  the  narrow- 
mindedness  and  the  malevolence  of  the  powers  that 
be.  The  great  soul  of  the  dead  chief  has  passed 
into  a  higher,  a  purer  sphere  uncontaminated  by  sec 
tional  hatred,  wholly  purged  of  all  dross  engendered 
by  contemptible  human  animosity. 

It  were  impossible,  my  friends,  within  the  limits 
of  this  hour  to  even  allude  to  the  leading  events 
and  mighty  occurrences  in  the  life  and  career  of  him 
whose  obsequies  we  are  now  solemnizing.  Born  of 
Georgia  parents  in  bountiful  Kentucky,  while  yet  an 


FUNERAL  ORATION.  333 

infant  his  home  was  transferred  to  Mississippi, 
where  his  childhood  and  youth  were  spent  in  a  com 
munity  remarkable  for  the  lofty,  honorable,  hos 
pitable  and  courteous  bearing  of  its  men,  and  the 
chastity,  polish  and  loveliness  of  its  women.  In 
such  an  atmosphere  he  acquired  at  the  outset  those 
gallant,  urbane,  refined,  elevated  and  commanding 
traits  which  characterized  him  through  the  whole 
course  of  his  prominent  and  checkered  career. 

Leaving  Transylvania  College  in  1824,  he  entered 
the  United  States  Military  Academy  at  West  Point. 
Upon  his  graduation  in  1828  he  was  assigned  to  the 
First  Infantry,  and  saw  his  earliest  active  service  in 
the  Black  Hawk  War.  On  June  30,  1835,  he  re 
signed  his  commission  as  first  lieutenant  of  dra 
goons;  and,  having  married  a  daughter  of  Colonel 
Zachary  Taylor — afterwards  President  of  this  Re 
public — established  his  home  near  Vicksburg,  where, 
pursuing  the  avocation  of  a  cotton  planter,  for  some 
eight  years  he  led  a  retired  life,  devoted  to  earnest 
thought  and  intelligent  study.  Entering  the  politi 
cal  arena  in  1843,  in  the  midst  of  an  exciting  guber 
natorial  canvass,  he  rapidly  acquired  such  popularity 
as  a  public  speaker  and  as  a  political  leader,  that 
two  years  afterwards  he  was  complimented  with  a 
seat  in  the  Lower  House  of  the  National  Congress. 
During  this  service,  and  in  debates  upon  prominent 
issues,  he  bore  a  leading  part ;  never  once  wavering 


334  REMINISCENCES  OF  JEFFEESON  DAVIS. 

in  his  devotion  to  the  Union  of  our  fathers,  but,  on 
the  contrary,  with  loyal  lip  and  ready  hand  endeav 
oring  to  promote  the  "  common  glory  of  our  com 
mon  country." 

In  June,  1846,  he  resigned  his  seat  in  Congress  to 
accept  the  colonelcy  of  the  First  Regiment  of  Mis 
sissippi  Rifles,  to  which  position  he  had  been  unani 
mously  elected.  Joining  his  command  at  New 
Orleans,  he  proceeded  at  once  to  reinforce  General 
Taylor  on  the  Rio  Grande  and,  during  our  war  with 
Mexico,  conducted  himself  with  a  courage  and  sol 
dierly  skill  which  reflected  honor  upon  American 
arms,  enriched  the  history  of  that  important  period, 
and  won  for  him,  from  the  chief  executive  of  the 
nation,  promotion  to  the  grade  of  brigadier-general. 

Well  do  you  remember  the  conspicuous  gallantry 
of  Colonel  Davis  when,  at  Monterey,  he  stormed 
Fort  Leneria  without  bayonets,  and,  amid  a  hurri 
cane  of  shot  and  shell,  led  his  regiment  as  far  as  the 
Grand  Plaza.  At  Buena  Yista,  too,  he  attracted  the 
notice  of,  arid  evoked  hearty  plaudits  from,  the  entire 
army  of  invasion.  It  was  there,  by  his  celebrated 
V-shaped  formation,  that,  unsupported,  with  his  regi 
ment  he  utterly  routed  a  charging  brigade  of  Mexi 
can  Lancers,  thrilling  the  nation  by  the  brilliancy 
and  the  intrepidity  of  the  movement,  and  eliciting 
from  the  commanding  general  commendation  couched 
in  the  most  complimentary  terms.  It  was  then,  my 


FUNEKAL  ORATION.  335 

countrymen,  that  he  received  a  severe  wound  from 
the  effects  of  which  he  suffered  to  the  day  of  his 
death.  Yes,  my  friends,  for  more  than  forty  years 
Jefferson  Davis  bore  upon  his  person  the  marks  of  a 
painful  and  well-nigh  mortal  hurt  encountered  in 
supporting  the  flag  of  his  country. 

Entering  the  United  States  Senate  in  1847,  he  be 
came  chairman  of  the  committee  on  military  affairs, 
and  exerted  an  influence  second  to  none  in  the  dis 
cussion  and  settlement  of  the  important  questions 
which  then  agitated  the  legislative  mind. 

Upon  the  election  of  General  Pierce  as  President 
of  the  United  States,  Senator  Davis  accepted  from 
his  hands  the  portfolio  of  war ;  and  I  am  persuaded 
that  I  indulge  in  no  extravagant  statement  when  I 
affirm  that  his  administration  of  the  affairs  of  that 
important  bureau  was  more  efficient,  noteworthy 
and  satisfactory  than  that  of  any  Cabinet  officer  who 
preceded  or  has  followed  him  in  that  position.  This 
I  believe  to  be  the  consentient  verdict  alike  of  friend 
and  enemy. 

Resuming  his  seat  in  the  Senate  Chamber  in  1857, 
he  was  recognized  as  the  Democratic  leader  of  the 
Thirty-sixth  Congress.  This  distinguished  honor  he 
maintained,  with  consummate  ability,  during  a  period 
of  unusual  anxiety  and  profound  responsibility,  until 
the  secession  of  Mississippi  in  January,  1861,  when 
he  withdrew  from  the  national  councils  and  returned 


336  REMINISCENCES  OF  JEFFERSON  DAVIS. 

home,  where  a  commission  as  commander-in-chief  of 
the  Army  of  Mississippi  awaited  him. 

In  this  exciting  political  service  no  smell  of  fire 
touched  the  hem  of  his  garment.  No  truculent 
spirit  contaminated  the  manhood  of  his  soul.  No 
utilitarian  methods  dwarfed  the  dignity  of  his  acts, 
or  questionable  policy  impaired  the  honesty  of  his 
utterances.  With  no  uncertain  voice  he  denounced 
all  partisans  who  purposed  an  obliteration  of  the 
landmarks  of  the  fathers.  The  doctrine  of  popular 
sovereignty  he  utterly  repudiated.  Carefully  distin 
guishing  "between  the  independence  which  the 
States  had  achieved  at  great  cost,"  and  the  Union 
which  had  been  compassed  by  an  expenditure  of 
"  little  time,  little  money,  and  no  blood,"  he  elo 
quently  and  effectively  maintained  the  State-rights 
theory  which  had  taken  such  firm  root  in  the  consti- 
tional  thought  of  the  Southern  people.  Although 
the  admitted  champion  of  his  section,  he  professed 
and  exhibited  an  abounding  love  for  the  Union,  and 
avowed  a  willingness  to  make  any  sacrifice,  consist 
ent  with  the  preservation  of  constitutional  liberty, 
to  avert  the  impending  struggle.  Mr.  Davis  was  no 
political  iconoclast — no  disunionist  in  the  vulgar  ac 
ceptation  of  that  term. 

In  the  first  volume  of  his  "  Rise  and  Fall  of  the 
Confederate  Government,"  he  has  presented  in  a 
masterly  manner  his  views  upon  the  weighty  ques- 


FUNERAL  ORATION.  337 

tion  of  the  reserved  rights  of  the  States,  and  has 
submitted  to  the  world  an  argument  which,  in  my 
judgment,  has  not  yet  been  answered  save  by  the 
arbitrament  of  the  sword,  clearly  demonstrating 
that  the  "  Southern  States  had  rightfully  the  power 
to  withdraw  from  a  union  into  which  they  had,  as 
sovereign  communities,  voluntarily  entered ;  that 
the  denial  of  that  right  was  a  violation  of  the  letter 
and  spirit  of  the  compact  between  the  States ;  and 
that  the  war  waged  by  the  Federal  Government 
against  the  seceding  States  was  in  disregard  of  the 
limitations  of  the  Constitution,  and  destructive  of 
the  principles  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence." 
I  have  no  desire,  my  countrymen,  in  this  presence 
and  on  this  occasion,  to  discuss  issues  which  have 
been,  at  least  for  the  present,  settled  at  the  cannon's 
mouth;  and  yet,  in  justice  to  the  illustrious  dead, 
who,  by  ribald  tongue  has  been  denounced  as  a 
"  rebel "  and  a  "  traitor,"  in  defence  of  you — brave 
women  and  gallant  men  of  the  South — who  fol 
lowed  the  fortunes  of  the  Confederacy  and  who  are 
now  gathered  together  to  pay  homage  at  the  shrine 
of  him  who  occupied  the  chief  seat  of  honor  in  the 
day  of  our  nation's  hope  and  peril,  I  cannot  refrain 
from  saying,  in  all  truth  and  soberness,  that  the 
States  never  having  surrendered  their  sovereignty, 
"  it  is  a  palpable  absurdity  to  apply  to  them,  and  to 

their   citizens   when   obeying    their  mandates,   the 
22 


338  REMINISCENCES  OF  JEFFERSON  DAVIS. 

terms  rebellion  and  treason  :  that  the  Confederate 
States,  so  far  from  making  war  against,  or  seeking  to 
destroy  the  United  States,  so  soon  as  they  had  an 
official  organ,  strove  earnestly,  by  peaceful  recogni 
tion,  to  equitably  adjust  all  questions  growing  out 
of  the  separation  from  their  late  associates,"  and 
that  the  "  arraignment  of  the  men  who  participated 
in  the  formation  of  the  Confederacy  and  who  bore 
arms  in  its  defence  as  the  instigators  of  a  contro 
versy  leading  to  disunion,"  is  wholly  unjustifiable. 

For  many  years  prior  to  the  Civil  War  the  Hon 
orable  Jefferson  Davis  was  one  of  the  most  com 
manding  figures  in  the  public  eye.  His  services  in 
the  Mexican  War  had  won  for  him  military  distinc 
tion,  while  his  intellect,  his  oratory,  his  statesman 
ship  and  his  ability  in  dealing  with  questions  of 
moment  in  the  Senate  of  the  United  States,  and  in 
conducting  the  affairs  of  the  bureau  of  war,  were 
admitted  by  his  opponents  and  applauded  by  his 
friends. 

In  his  esteem  constitutional  liberty  was  dearer 
than  life.  Possessing  in  an  extraordinary  degree 
those  moral  traits  which  are  intensified  under  the 
test  of  heroic  trial,  he  lived  to  show  to  the  world 
"the  matchless  and  unconquerable  grandeur  of 
Southern  character." 

"  In  mind,  manners  and  heart  he  was  a  type  of 
that  old  race  of  Southern  gentleman  whom  these 


FUNERAL  OKATION.  339 

bustling  times  are  fast  crowding  out  of  our  civiliza 
tion.''  With  him  fidelity,  chivalry,  honor  and  pa 
triotism  were  realities,  not  words — entities,  not  ab 
stractions.  To  the  South,  and  the  cause  which  it 
represented,  he  remained  faithful  even  unto  death. 

On  February  9,  1861,  in  his  personal  absence,  and 
without  any  solicitation  on  his  part,  Mr.  Davis  was, 
by  the  Provisional  Congress  assembled  at  Mont 
gomery,  Alabama,  chosen  President  of  the  Confeder 
ate  States.  This  foremost  office  in  the  gift  of  the 
South  he  continued  to  hold  until  the  disastrous  con 
clusion  of  the  Confederate  struggle  for  independence. 
It  is  historically  true  that  if  his  inclination  had 
been  consulted,  President  Davis  would  have  pre 
ferred  high  military  command  to  the  station  of 
chief  executive  of  the  nation. 

Summoning  to  his  aid  such  heads  of  departments 
as  appeared  most  suitable,  and  proclaiming  in  his 
inaugural  address  that  necessity,  not  choice,  had 
compelled  the  secession  of  the  Southern  States; 
that  the  true  policy  of  the  South — an  agricultural 
community — was  peace ;  and  that  the  constituent 
parts,  but  not  the  system  of  the  Government,  had 
been  changed,  he  bent  his  every  energy  to  the  crea 
tion  and  the  confirmation  of  the  Republic  newly 
born  into  the  sisterhood  of  nations.  Herculean  was 
the  effort,  involving,  as  it  did,  the  entire  organiza 
tion  of  the  Confederacy,  the  accumulation  of  sup- 


340  REMINISCENCES  OF  JEFFERSON  DAVIS. 

plies,  the  consummation  of  Governmental  plans  and 
the  enlistment,  equipment  and  mobilization  of 
armies  at  a  formative  period  when  that  union  of 
seceding  commonwealths  was  little  more  than  a  po 
litical  name.  Volunteers  there  were  of  exalted 
spirit  and  capable  of  the  highest  endeavor,  but  the 
problem  was  how  to  arm  them  for  efficient  service. 
In  the  language  of  the  venerable  historian  of  Louisi 
ana  :  "  If  Minerva,  with  wisdom,  courage,  justice 
and  right,  was  on  the  side  of  the  Southern  champion, 
it  was  Minerva  not  only  without  any  armor,  but 
even  without  the  necessary  garments  to  protect  her 
against  the  inclemencies  of  the  weather;  whilst  on 
the  other  side  stood  Mars  in  full  panoply,  Ceres  with 
her  inexhaustible  cornucopia,  Jupiter  with  his 
thunderbolts,  Neptune  with  his  trident,  Mercury 
with  his  winged  feet  and  emblematic  rod,  Plutus 
with  his  hounds  and  Yulcan  with  his  forge  and 
hammer." 

It  is  even  now  a  marvel,  transcending  compre 
hension,  that  the  Confederate  States  were  able  so 
rapidly  to  place  in  the  field  large  bodies  of  troops. 
Equally  astounding  is  it  that  a  government,  born 
in  a  day  and  erected  in  the  midst  of  a  population 
almost  wholly  agricultural,  could  so  quickly  sum 
mon  to  its  support  the  entire  manhood  of  the  land, 
establish  machine-shops  and  foundries,  compass  the 
importation  and  manufacture  of  quartermaster  stores 


FUNERAL  ORATION.  341 

and  munitions  of  war,  accumulate  commissary  and 
other  supplies  at  convenient  points,  erect  and  man 
heavy  batteries,  furnish  field  artillery,  place  mus 
kets  and  sabres  in  the  hands  of  expectant  soldiery, 
and  organize  the  various  departments  requisite  for 
the  efficient  administration  of  public  affairs ;  'and  all 
this  in  the  face  of  an  impending  war  of  gigantic 
proportions.  That  President  Davis,  in  the  consum 
mation  of  this  complex  and  most  difficult  business, 
evinced  a  patriotism,  an  energy,  a  capacity  and  a 
devotion  worthy  of  the  highest  commendation,  will 
be  freely  admitted. 

And  what,  my  friends,  shall  I  say  of  his  conduct 
as  Chief  Magistrate  of  the  Confederacy  during  the 
more  than  four  long  and  bloody  years  which  marked 
the  duration  of  our  heroic  struggle  in  defence  of 
vested  rights  and  in  behalf  of  a  separate  national 
existence  ?  Time  would  fail  me  to  enumerate  even 
the  salient  points  of  his  overshadowing  intervention 
in,  and  controlling  guidance  of,  the  operations — 
civil  and  military — appurtenant  to  that  eventful 
epoch.  He  was  the  central  sun  of  our  system, 
around  which  all  lesser  luminaries  revolved  in  sub 
ordinated  orbits.  He  was  the  guardian  of  our  na 
tional  honor  and  the  conservator  of  the  public  weal. 
Amid  trials  the  most  oppressive,  and  disasters  the 
most  appalling,  he  never  forfeited  the  confidence  of 
his  people,  but  under  all  circumstances  retained 


342  REMINISCENCES  OF  JEFFERSON  DAVIS. 

their  loves  and  their  allegiance.  His  messages, 
State  papers  and  public  utterances  were  models 
alike  of  statesmanship  and  of  scholarly  diction. 
His  constant  effort  was  to  maintain,  upon  the  high 
est  plane,  the  purposes  and  acts  of  the  government. 
Every  suggestion  was  discountenanced  which  was 
not  in  harmony  with  the  dictates  of  the  most  ap 
proved  international  ethics  and  the  principles  of 
civilized  warfare.  In  communing  with  citizens  and 
soldiers  he  inculcated  sentiments  exalted  in  their 
character,  and  counseled  every  sacrifice  necessary 
for  the  accomplishment  of  the  vital  purpose  in  view. 
His  energy  in  the  discharge  of  the  multifarious,  per 
plexing  and  important  duties  which  devolved  upon 
him,  never  flagged.  His  sacrifice  of  self  was  con 
spicuous.  His  spotless  integrity,  tenacity  of  convic 
tions,  courage  in  maintaining  his  opinions,  his  en 
lightened  conscience,  his  resolute  temper  and  his 
clear  conception  of  right  and  honor  in  every  rela 
tion  were  potent  factors  in  the  solution  of  the  tre 
mendous  problems  claiming  his  attention.  His  reso 
lution — formed  after  the  most  careful  consideration 
— was  followed  with  a  relentless  fidelity.  Some 
men  thought  him  dictatorial;  but  an  iron  will,  in 
flexible  nerve  and  the  bravest  assumption  of  per 
sonal  responsibility  were  demanded  by  the  occasion. 
For  the  guidance  of  the  time  and  the  control  of 
events  there  were  no  precedents.  Action,  imme- 


FUNERAL  ORATION.  343 

diate,  decisive,  was  the  watchword  of  the  hour. 
"  They  that  stand  high  have  many  blasts  to  shake 
them/'  and  the  marvel  is  that  he  was  able  to 
endure  the  tremendous  pressure,  and  to  bear  the 
burthens  incident  to  the  position  he  occupied  and 
consequent  upon  the  perils  which  environed  his  be 
leaguered  nation.  Some  there  were  who  questioned 
the  propriety  of  certain  appointments  to  and  re 
movals  from  important  commands, — criticised  his 
plans,  and  denied  the  advisability  of  some  of  the 
public  measures  which  he  favored ;  but  no  one  ever 
doubted  either  the  sincerity  of  his  convictions  or  his 
absolute  devotion  to  the  best  interests  of  people  and 
government  as  he  comprehended  them.  Difficult 
beyond  expression  was  the  execution  of  the  momen 
tous  trust  committed  to  his  keeping.  To  say  that 
he  perpetrated  no  mistakes,  would  be  to  proclaim 
him  more  than  mortal.  In  the  light  of  past  events, 
and  in  expression  of  the  general  verdict,  this  we 
will  venture  to  affirm :  that  with  the  resources  at 
command,  and  in  view  of  the  desperate  odds  en 
countered,  President  Davis  and  the  Southern  peo 
ple  achieved  wonders,  and  accomplished  all  that  the 
purest  patriotism,  the  most  unswerving  valor,  the 
loftiest  aspirations  and  the  most  patient  endurance 
could  have  compassed. 

"  Till  the  future  dares 
Forget  the  past, 


344  KEMINISCENCES  OF  JEFFERSON  DAVIS. 

the  fame  of  both  shall  be 

"  An  echo  and  a  light  unto  eternity." 

"With  the  surrender  of  the  armies  of  Generals  Lee 
and  Johnston,  and  upon  the  disintegration  of  the 
Confederate  Government  at  Washington,  Georgia, 
the  end  came.  While  attempting  to  reach  the  trans- 
Mississippi  Department,  and  cherishing  the  hope 
that,  with  the  assistance  of  Generals  E.  Kirby  Smith 
and  J.  B.  Magruder  and  the  forces  under  their  com 
mand,  he  would  there  be  able  to  prolong  the  strug 
gle,  President  Davis  was  captured  by  a  detachment 
of  Federal  cavalry.  Subjected  to  petty  pillage  and 
to  annoyances  inconsistent  with  the  usages  of  civil 
ized  warfare,  he  was  conveyed  under  guard  to  Fort 
ress  Monroe  where,  charged  with  being  an  accom 
plice  in  the  assassination  of  President  Lincoln,  and 
accused  of  treason,  separated  from  family  and  com 
panions,  heavy  fetters  riveted  upon  him,  he  was 
immured  in  a  stone  casemate.  "  Bitter  tears  have 
been  shed  by  the  gentle,  and  stern  reproaches  "  have 
been  uttered  by  the  "  magnanimous  on  account  of 
the  needless  torture "  to  which  he  was  then  sub 
jected.  For  two  long  years  did  this  illustrious  pris 
oner  endure  this  unmerited  disgrace, — this  unwar 
ranted  and  oppressive  confinement.  Could  you,  my 
friends,  at  this  moment,  with  uncovered  heads 
approach  the  coffin  which  encloses  the  mortal  re 
mains  of  our  dead  President,  and  reverently  lift  the 


FUNERAL  OEATION.  345 

shroud  which  enfolds  his  precious  body,  you  would 
even  now  discover,  on  those  pale  and  shrunken 
limbs,  the  abrasions  caused  by  Federal  gyves.  Be 
hold,  my  countrymen,  what  he  suffered  as  the  repre 
sentative  of  the  South !  Behold  the  martyrdom  he 
then  endured  for  the  alleged  sins  of  his  people.  He 
was  indeed  "  a  nation's  prisoner." 

Bravely  did  he  bear  himself  during  this  season  of 
privation,  of  loneliness,  of  insult,  and  of  attempted 
degradation,  protracted  until  satiated  by  their  own 
cruelty  and  baffled  in  their  rage,  the  prison  doors 
were  opened,  and  the  Federal  authorities  were  forced 
to  acknowledge  that  the  charge  of  complicity  in  the 
assassination  of  President  Lincoln  was  a  lie ;  and 
that  Jefferson  Davis — President  of  the  Confederate 
States — was  not  a  traitor. 

If  anything  were  needed  to  consecrate  his  memory 
in  the  affection  and  the  gratitude  of  the  Southern 
people,  it  is  surely  supplied  in  this  vicarious  suffer 
ing,  and  in  the  nobleness  of  spirit  with  which  it  was 
endured. 

Time  and  again  since  his  liberation  have  the 
shafts  of  falsehood,  of  hatred,  of  detraction,  and  of 
jealousy,  been  directed  against  him;  but,  success 
fully  parried,  they  have  returned  to  wound  the 
hands  which  launched  them. 

In  his  quiet  home  at  Beauvoir,  ennobled  by  the 
presence  of  the  live-oak — that  monarch  of  the  South- 


346  EEMINISCENCES  OF  JEFFERSON  DAVIS. 

ern  forest — beautified  by  the  queenly  magnolia- 
gran  diflora,  redolent  of  the  perfumes  of  a  semi- 
tropical  region,  fanned  by  the  soft  breezes  from  the 
Gulf,  and  cheered  by  exhibitions  of  respect,  affection 
and  veneration  most  sincere,  President  Davis  passed 
the  evening  of  his  eventful  life.  Since  the  hush  of 
that  great  storm  which  convulsed  this  land,  he  has 
borne  himself  with  a  dignity  and  a  composure,  with 
a  fidelity  to  Confederate  traditions,  with  a  just  ob 
servance  of  the  proprieties  of  the  situation,  and 
with  an  exalted  manhood  worthy  of  all  admiration. 

Conspicuous  for  his  gallantry  and  ability  as  a 
military  leader — prominent  as  a  Federal  Secretary 
of  War — as  a  Senator  and  statesman  renowned  in 
the  political  annals  of  these  United  States — illustri 
ous  for  all  time  as  the  President  of  a  nation  which, 
although  maintaining  its  existence  for  only  a  brief 
space,  bequeathed  glorious  names,  notable  events 
and  proud  memories,  which  will  survive  the  flood  of 
years — most  active,  intelligent  and  successful  in  vin 
dicating  the  aims,  the  impulses,  the  rights  and  the 
conduct  of  the  Southern  people  during  their  phe 
nomenal  struggle  for  independence — his  reputation 
abides,  unclouded  by  defeat,  unimpaired  by  the  mu 
tations  of  fortune  and  the  shadows  of  disappoint 
ment. 

Surely  no  token  of  affection  can  be  too  profuse — 
no  mark  of  respect  too  emphatic — no  rendition  of 


FUNERAL  OEATION.  347 

honor  too  conspicuous — no  funeral  tribute  too  im 
posing  for  this  dead  chieftain  of  the  South.  Dead, 
did  I  say  ? 

"  To  live  in  hearts  we  leave  behind 
Is  not  to  die." 

Even  now  his  name  is  upon  every  Southern  lip, 
and  his  memory  enshrined  in  every  Southern  heart. 

Even  now,  all  through  this  brave  Southland, 
funeral  bells  are  tolling  his  requiem.  The  bravest 
and  the  knightliest  are  reverently  bearing  his  pre 
cious  body  to  the  tomb.  Benedictions,  invoked  by 
lips  touched  with  a  live  coal  from  off  the  altar,  are 
descending  like  the  dew  of  Hermon.  Pious  drops 
bedew  the  cheeks  of  noble  women,  and  the  heads 
of  stalwart  men  are  bowed  in  grief.  The  hour  is 
holy,  and  the  occasion  most  privileged. 

In  bidding  farewell  to  our  President,  we  rejoice 
that,  by  a  kind  Providence,  it  was  granted  unto  him. 
to  spend  in  our  midst 

"  His  twelve  long  hours 
Bright  to  the  edge  of  darkness  ;  then  the  calm 
Bepose  of  twilight — and  a  crown  of  stars." 

We  rejoice  that  he  was  permitted  to  render  back 
his  great  spirit  into  the  hands  of  the  God  who  gave 
it,  surrounded  by  devoted  friends,  accompanied  by 
the  loves  of  Southern  hearts,  and  amid  the  comforts 
of  the  metropolis  of  the  South.  We  rejoice  that, 
having  attained  unto  the  full  measure  of  human 


348  REMINISCENCES  OF  JEFFEESON  DAVIS. 

life  and  enjoyed  the  highest  honors  which  Southern 
hands  could  offer — all  mundane  cares  overpast — he 
has,  as  we  confidently  believe,  serenely  entered  into 
that  Upper  Realm  where  there  are  "  trees  of  unfad 
ing  loveliness,  pavements  of  emerald,  canopies  of 
brightest  radiance,  gardens  of  deep  and  tranquil  se 
curity,  palaces  of  proud  and  stately  decoration,  and 
a  city  of  lofty  pinnacles  through  which  there  un 
ceasingly  flows  the  river  of  gladness,  and  where  ju 
bilee  is  ever  rung  with  the  concord  of  seraphic 


voices." 


SOME  RECOLLECTIONS  OF   PRESIDENT 

DAVIS. 

BY  MAJOR  THOMAS  W.    HAU,. 

IT  was  the  fortune  of  the  writer  to  be  in  the  little 
town  of  Washington,  Georgia,  when  President 
Jefferson  Davis  arrived,  a  few  days  before  his 
capture,  in  May,  1865.  It  was  during  Mr.  Davis' 
brief  stay  in  Washington  that  the  last  semblance  of 
organization  of  the  Confederate  Government  was 
formally  abandoned,  and  the  cavalry  force  which 
had  accompanied  Mr.  Davis  in  his  journey  from 
North  Carolina,  after  the  surrender  of  Johnston's 
army,  was  finally  disbanded.  One  or  two  incidents 
which  occurred  at  the  time,  within  the  writer's  per 
sonal  knowledge  and  observation,  and  which  illus 
trate  Mr.  Davis'  dignified  bearing  at  this  trying  and 
critical  period  in  his  life  and  career,  may  seem  to  be 
worth  narrating  and  recording.  There  were  not 
more  than  two  or  three  persons  in  Washington  who 
knew  of  Mr.  Davis*  approach,  until  his  actual  ar 
rival.  Such  was  the  difficulty  in  obtaining  news 
from  any  quarter,  that  on  the  very  morning  of  his 
arrival,  a  group  of  distinguished  Confederates,  in 
cluding  one  or  two  Senators,  might  have  been  heard 

speculating  as  to  Mr.  Davis'  possible  whereabouts, 

349 


350  KEMINISCENCES  OF  JEFFEKSON  DAVIS. 

and  discussing  the  chances  of  his  having  been  able 
to  make  his  way  in  safety  to  the  Mississippi  River, 
and  across  to  the  Trans-Mississippi  Department.     A 
few  hours  later  Mr.  Davis  rode  into  the  town,  with 
a  small  escort,  including  some  members  of  his  Cabi 
net  and  personal  staff,  and  several  general  officers. 
He  was  received  and  entertained  during  his  brief 
stay,  which  lasted  only  until  the  next  morning,  be 
neath  the  hospitable  roof  of  Dr.  Robertson,  a  citizen 
of  Washington,  and   cashier   of  the   bank   at  that 
place.     Although  every  one,  and  none  better  than 
Mr.  Davis,  knew  that  the  end  of  the  long  struggle 
had  come,  his  manner  was  as  calm  and  composed  as 
if  he  were  still  occupying  the  President's  house  in 
Richmond,   guarded   and   defended    by   the   heroic 
legions  of  Lee.     He  was  still  the  President,  and  re 
spected  as  such,  as  much  as  in  the  plenitude  of  his 
power  and  the  most  hopeful  days  of  the  Confederacy. 
And  as  such,  he  bore  himself  with  tranquil  dignity. 
One   of  the   incidents  referred  to  occurred  shortly 
after  his  arrival,  while  he  and  the  principal  members 
of  his  party  were  seated  at  dinner.     Some   of  the 
officers  present  who  were  graduates  of  West  Point, 
began  to  discuss  their  individual  future  plans.     Real 
izing  that  the  close  of  the  war  would  end  their  mili 
tary  career  at  home,  they  spoke  of  seeking  profes 
sional  employment  abroad — in  Mexico,  Brazil,  Egypt 
— plans  which  some  of  them  subsequently  carried 


SOME  KECOLLECTIONS.  351 

into  execution.  Mr.  Davis,  who  had  been  listening 
in  silence,  presently  remarked  :  "  Gentlemen,  it  will 
be  time  enough  for  you  to  be  thinking  of  seeking  a 
foreign  service  when  you  are  sure  that  your  own 
country  has  no  need  of  your  services  at  home."  The 
subject  was  not  renewed  in  Mr.  Davis'  presence. 

Later  on,  the  question  of  the  best  course  for  Mr. 
Davis  to  pursue,  to  avoid  capture  and  the  risk  of  the 
indignities  to  which  he  might  be  exposed  if  taken 
prisoner,  was  discussed  by  some  of  his  closest  and 
most  devoted  associates  and  friends.  It  was  stated 
that  Mr.  Davis'  own  idea  had  been  to  continue  his 
journey  westward,  with  a  cavalry  escort,  and,  if 
possible,  try  to  reach  the  Trans-Mississippi  Depart 
ment.  The  writer,  who  had  just  returned  from  a 
tour  of  military  duty,  which  had  taken  him  to  Ma- 
con,  Georgia,  at  which  point  he  was  compelled  to 
abandon  all  effort  to  reach  Columbus  and  Selma, 
places  already  in  the  possession  of  the  Federals,  was 
able  to  furnish  information  which  showed  the  im 
possibility  of  the  President,  with  an  escort  either 
large  or  small,  being  able  to  pass  in  safety  through  a 
country  occupied  by  the  Union  forces,  who  were 
then  rapidly  advancing  eastward  and  spreading 
themselves  through  the  interior  of  Georgia.  There 
was  but  one  way  and  avenue  of  escape  which  seemed 
to  be  open.  That  was  for  Mr.  Davis,  with  a  small 
party — the  smaller  the  better — to  proceed  directly 


352  EEMINISCENCES  OF  JEFFEKSON  DAVIS. 

southward  to  Florida,  and  thence  escape  from  the 
coast  by  boat  to  Cuba.  This  plan  was  thought  en 
tirely"  feasible,  but  upon  being  submitted  to  and  even 
urged  upon  Mr.  Davis,  he  rejected  it,  saying  in  sub 
stance,  that  no  circumstances  had  arisen  which  could 
induce  him  to  abandon  his  people,  and  seek  his  own 
personal  safety  in  flight.  That  evening  the  resolu 
tion  was  arrived  at  in  a  council  of  general  officers, 
presided  over  by  General  Breckinridge,  then  Secre 
tary  of  War,  that  it  was  inadvisable  to  attempt  to 
keep  together  the  small  cavalry  force,  two  or  three 
thousand  strong,  which  had  accompanied  Mr.  Davis, 
and  was  then  encamped  a  few  miles  from  Washing 
ton  ;  and  that  it  was  due  to  the  men  themselves  that 
they  should  be  disbanded  and  suffered  to  take  their 
arms  and  horses,  and  make  their  way,  as  they  best 
could,  to  their  families  and  homes.  The  same  day, 
a  Cabinet  meeting — the  last  Cabinet  meeting  of  the 
Confederate  Government — was  held  in  the  room 
occupied  by  Mr.  Davis  in  Dr.  Kobertson's  house. 
After  the  meeting  adjourned,  the  writer  saw  a  rough 
draft  or  minute  of  a  resolution  discharging  the  sev 
eral  heads  of  departments  from  the  duty  of  further 
personal  attendance  upon  the  Executive.  Whether 
such  a  resolution  was  actually  passed,  the  wrriter 
does  not  know,  but  if  so,  such  was  the  formal  disso 
lution  of  the  Confederate  Government.  The  next 
morning,  after  an  early  breakfast,  accompanied  by  a 


SOME  KECOLLECTIONS.  353 

few  friends,  among  them  Judge  (now  Senator)  Rea 
gan,  of  Texas,  then  Postmaster-General  of  the  Con 
federacy,  Mr.  Davis  set  out  on  horseback  to  follow 
and  overtake  Mrs.  Davis,  who,  with  a  small  party, 
had  passed  through  Washington  a  few  days  before. 
The  circumstances  of  Mr.  Davis'  subsequent  capture, 
which  followed  a  day  or  two  afterward,  have  become 
matter  of  history,  and  also,  it  may  be  said,  the  sub 
ject  of  much  misrepresentation. 
23 


MEMORIAL   NOTICE  OF   PRESIDENT 
DAVIS. 

PREPARED  AND   READ   BY  MAJOR  THOMAS  W.    HALL, 

At  a  memorial  meeting  of  the  citizens  of  Baltimore,  held  under  the  auspices  of  the 

Society  of  the  Army  and  Navy  of  the  Confederate  States,  in  the 

State  of  Maryland,  December  u,  1889. 

MAJOR  HALL  said :  "  Since  the  last  shot  was 
fired  in  anger  in  the  war  between  the  States, 
the  flowers  of  more  than  twenty  springs  have 
bloomed  over  the  once  naked  graves  of  those  who 
fell  on  either  side  in  that  great  struggle.  Surely, 
after  the  lapse  of  so  many  years,  and  in  view  of  the 
now  happily  restored  political  and  fraternal  relations 
of  all  the  States,  we  may  speak  to-day  of  Jefferson 
Davis,  dead  and  in  his  tomb,  to  all  the  world,  as  we 
thought  and  felt  of  and  toward  him  when  living, 
without  fear  and  without  risk  of  incurring  the  cen 
sure  which  justly  falls  on  those  who  lightly  or 
rashly  tread — 

*  Upon  the  smouldering  fires, 
By  deceitful  ashes  scarce  concealed/ 

of  recent  civil  strife. 

"  This  is  not  the  time  or  place  for  attempting  any 
extended  or  elaborate  review  of  the  public  career  or 
personal  character  of  Mr.  Davis,  nor  should  I  feel 

equal  to  the  task  were  such  expected.     The  duty 
*     354 


MEMORIAL  NOTICE.  355 

which  has  been  assigned  to  me  this  evening  is  the 
far  less  ambitious  one  of  presenting  in  behalf  of  the 
Society  of  the  Army  and  Navy  of  the  Confederate 
States  in  Maryland,  under  whose  auspices  this  meet 
ing  is  held,  a  brief  memorial  notice  of  our  dead  leader 
as  an  expression  of  the  feelings  with  which  we  have 
received  the  announcement  of  his  death,  and  in 
testimony  of  the  sacred  regard  in  which  we  shall 
ever  hold  his  memory.  I  will  read,  with  your  per 
mission,  what,  at  the  request  of  a  committee  of  the 
society,  I  have  prepared : 

"  The  Society  of  the  Army  and  Navy  of  the  Con 
federate  States  in  Maryland  have  heard  with  feelings 
of  deep  emotion  of  the  death  of  Jefferson  Davis, 
once  President  of  the  Confederate  States  of  America. 
Dying  in  the  very  fulness  of  years,  long  withdrawn 
from  the  activities  of  a  public  career,  and  debarred 
the  privilege  of  serving  his  countrymen  in  any  pub 
lic  station,  the  sorrow  which  the  announcement  of 
his  death  calls  forth  is  that  of  respectful  and  affec 
tionate  sympathy  for  his  bereaved  and  stricken  fam 
ily.  Having  reached  the  age  of  more  than  four 
score  years,  many  of  which  were  years  of  trial  and 
trouble,  only  one  that '  hates  him  '- 

'Upon  the  rack  of  this  rough  world' — 

would  have  stretched  him  longer. 

"  With  the  great  events  in  which  he  was  so  great 
an  actor  his  name  has  long  since  passed  into  history, 


356  REMINISCENCES  OF  JEFFERSON  DAVIS. 

and  to  the  impartial  verdict  of  history,  yet  to  be 
written,  after  the  passions  and  prejudices  of  the  gen 
eration  in  which  he  lived  shall  have  passed  away, 
we  may  confidently  commit  the  guardianship  of  his 
fame. 

"  It  is  none  the  less  the  duty,  however,  of  the 
generation  which  knew  him,  and  of  those  who 
trusted,  loved  and  honored  him,  to  place  on  record 
as  their  contribution  to  that  history  some  memorial 
of  their  estimate  of  his  character  and  worth.  As 
all  human  judgments  are  necessarily  relative,  and, 
both  in  the  moral  and  physical  world,  things  for  the 
most  part  appear  great  or  small  by  comparison,  it  is 
proper  to  resort  to  comparison  in  order  to  form  an 
estimate  of  Mr.  Davis'  proper  place  in  the  opinions 
of  mankind.  And  the  comparison  which  most  nat 
urally  suggests  itself,  despite  the  dissimilarity  of 
their  fortunes,  by  reason  of  resemblances  in  charac- 
ter  stronger  than  any  contrast  in  circumstances,  is 
between  George  Washington,  the  great  and  success 
ful  leader  in  the  war  of  independence,  and  Jefferson 
Davis,  the  great  though  unsuccessful  leader  in  the 
war  of  secession.  In  the  spirit  of  the  undertakings 
in  which  they  engaged,  and  which  led  to  such  differ 
ent  issues ;  in  the  sincerity  of  conviction  and  single 
ness  of  purpose  by  which  they  were  actuated,  in  the 
austere  dignity  of  their  personal  presence  and  bear 
ing,  in  the  moral  elevation  of  their  characters,  in 


MEMORIAL  NOTICE.  357 

their  solemn  trust  and  reliance  upon  an  overruling 
Providence,  in  their  heroic  constancy  under  adverse 
conditions  and  circumstances,  their  moderation  in 
victory  and  fortitude  in  defeat,  these  two  great  men 
were  singularly  alike.  Each  was  a  leader  in  a  great 
popular  and  sectional  uprising  against  existing 
authority.  Although  success  makes  all  the  differ 
ence  in  law  between  a  rebel  and  a  patriot,  in  morals 
Jefferson  Davis  was  no  more  of  a  rebel  and  no  less  a 
patriot  than  George  Washington.  The  American 
colonies  revolted  against  the  authority  of  the  mother 
country  and  of  the  British  Government.  The  South 
ern  States  revolted — they  did  not  call  it  rebellion — 
against  the  authority  of  the  Federal  Union  and  the 
government  which  it  created.  Washington,  nur 
tured  in  the  love  of  constitutional  liberty  and  in  the 
principles  of  Hampden  and  Sydney,  joined  his  hand 
and  fortunes  with  the  patriots  who  held  that  taxa 
tion  without  representation  was  tyranny,  and  re 
belled  against  the  claim  of  royal  prerogative. 

"  Jefferson  Davis,  educated  in  a  school  of  consti 
tutional  construction,  which  was  coeval  with  the 
constitution,  and  a  firm  believer  in  doctrines  which 
he  had  been  taught  were  those  of  Madison  and  Jef 
ferson,  joined  his  fortunes  with  those  who  held  that 
the  attempted  coercion  of  the  seceded  States  was 
federal  usurpation.  Those  who  dissent  most  strongly 
from  Mr.  Davis'  political  opinions  cannot  call  in 


358  REMINISCENCES  OF  JEFFERSON  DAVIS. 

question  the  sincerity  and  fervor  with  which  he  held 
them.  He  was  as  honest  and  sincere  in  his  convic 
tion  of  the  rightfulness  and  the  duty  of  resistance  to 
federal  coercion  of  sovereign  States  as  any  patriot  of 
1776  who  took  up  arms  because  the  British  Govern 
ment  sought  to  enforce  the  stamp  act  and  imposed  a 
tax  upon  tea.  The  fact  that  the  revolt  of  the  col-, 
onies  in  1776  succeeded,  and  that  the  attempted 
secession  of  the  Southern  States  in  1861  failed,  can 
not  affect  the  moral  judgment  of  mankind  as  to  the 
character  and  motives  of  the  men  who  took  part  in 
either  movement. 

"  Washington  defeated  and  despoiled  of  his  rights 
as  a  British  subject,  ending  his  days  at  Mount  Yer- 
non  as  a  disfranchised  rebel,  would  have  been  the 
same  Washington  still.  Although  he  would  have 
had  to  bear  all  the  obloquy  which  attends  defeat, 
would  have  been  stigmatized,  doubtless,  as  the  man 
responsible  above  others  for  all  the  bloodshed  and 
suffering  of  the  revolutionary  struggle,  and  as  owing 
his  life  and  liberty,  forfeited  by  the  crime  of  rebel 
lion,  to  royal  clemency,  his  place  would  have  been 
the  same  in  the  loving  hearts  and  memories  of  the 
patriots  whose  cause  he  had  championed,  and  of  the 
veterans  whom  he  had  led  to  victory  at  Trenton  and 
Yorktown,  and  whose  sufferings  he  had  shared  at 
Valley  Forge. 

"  If  Lee  and  Jackson,  rather  than  Davis,  were  the 


MEMORIAL  NOTICE.  359 

military  heroes  of  the  Confederacy,  it  must  be  re 
membered  that  the  responsibilities  of  the  civil  head 
of  a  State  seeking  to  establish  its  existence  by  force 
of  arms  were  not  less  trying  than  those  of  a  general 
in  the  field ;  that  those  responsibilities  were  not  of 
Mr.  Davis'  own  seeking,  but  were  thrust  upon  him, 
and  that  by  education  and  preference  a  soldier,  it 
would  have  been  his  choice  to  serve  the  Confederacy 
with  his  sword.  Jefferson  Davis  will,  therefore,  live 
in  the  hearts  and  memories  of  the  Southern  people 
as  another  Washington,  uncrowned  by  the  laurel 
wreaths  of  victory  and  the  rewards  of  civic  honor 
which  fell  to  the  happier  lot  of  the  first.  The  in 
flexible  consistency  with  which  Mr.  Davis  bore  him 
self  from  the  close  of  the  war  until  the  last  hour  of 
his  life  recalls  another  comparison.  Few  persons, 
comparatively,  to-day  trouble  themselves  with  the 
details  or  the  merits  of  the  strife  of  Roman  factions, 
but  the  austere  unbending  figure  of  Cato  occupies 
for  all  time  a  niche  in  the  Pantheon  of  the  world's 
greatest  men.  To  Jefferson  Davis,  firm  and  unyield 
ing  to  the  last,  bowing  submissively  to  the  just  de 
crees  of  Providence,  but  bending  to  no  censure  or 
opinion  of  man,  we  may  apply  with  equal  truth  and 
appositeness  Lucan's  famous  line  : 

1  Victrix  causa  dels  placuit,  sed  victa  Catoni.' 

"  It   is   especially  appropriate    that   Marylanders 
should  unite  in  a  public  tribute  to  the  memory  of 


360  BEMINISCENCES  OF  JEFFEKSON  DAVIS. 

Mr.  Davis,  for  to  all  Marylanders  who  espoused  the 
Confederate  cause,  and  thereby  made  themselves 
exiles  from  their  homes,  Mr.  Davis  was  ever  particu 
larly  sympathetic  and  kind,  and  they  should  mourn 
him  not  only  as  their  leader,  but  as  their  friend." 


MR.  DAVIS'  STATE  PAPERS. 

BY   HON.    HILARY  A.    HERBERT. 
Member  of  Congress  from  California. 

"*  *  Callidus  juventa 
Consule  Planco." — HORAT. 

"In  my  hot  youth,  when  George  the  Third  was  King." — BYRON. 

I  WAS  never  in  the  immediate  presence  of  Mr. 
Davis  but  once ;  so  these  reminiscences  must 
consist  principally  of  the  impressions  made  by 
the  President  of  the  Confederacy  upon  a  young  sol 
dier  in  the  field.  The  recollections  of  one  who  saw 
and  felt  the  power  of  the  man  from  that  stand-point 
may  be  helpful  to  him  who  would  to-day  picture  ac 
curately  in  his  mind  the  President  of  the  Confeder 
acy  as  he  moved  amid  the  heroic  forms  that  sur 
rounded  him  from  1861  to  1865.  It  is  not  alone  by 
the  touch  of  the  hand,  the  glance  of  the  eye  or  the 
magnetic  sound  of  the  voice  that  a  leader  of  men 
impresses  his  personality  on  those  who  environ  him. 
His  intellect  quickens,  his  spirit  infuses,  his  hand  is 
felt  in  spite  of  physical  distance  almost  as  if  he  were 
visibly  present.  And  most  emphatically  was  this 
true  of  Mr.  Davis. 

His  selection  as  Provisional  President  by  the  Con 
gress   which    met   at    Montgomery   February   4th, 

361 


362  REMINISCENCES  OF  JEFFEKSON  DAVIS. 

1861,  was  ratified  by  the  people  of  the  new  Govern 
ment  with  wonderful  unanimity.  It  was  the  com 
mon  thought :  "  The  man  and  the  hour  have  met." 
The  man  had  been  educated  as  a  soldier,  acquired 
experience  in  early  life  in  the  army ;  then  resigning, 
had  by  severe  study  in  private  life  trained  himself 
for  the  duties  of  statesmanship ;  had  won  fame  in 
the  Mexican  War;  had  administered  with  distin 
guished  success  the  War  Department  of  the  Govern 
ment,  and  in  the  Senate  of  the  United  States  as  a  de 
fender  of  the  rights  of  his  section  was  "primus  inter 
pares"  When  to  all  this  it  is  added  that  Mr.  Davis 
was  a  man  of  singular  personal  purity,  it  is  easy  to 
understand  the  pride  and  satisfaction  with  which  the 
people  of  the  Confederacy  hailed  him  as  their  chief. 

That  about  him  which  most  impressed  the  writer 
of  this  brief  and  hurried  memoir  was  the  great  abil 
ity  of  his  State  papers.  To  call  attention  to  these  is 
the  chief  purpose  of  this  contribution.  Extracts 
will  also  be  given  liberal  enough,  not  only  to  exem 
plify  the  conspicuous  literary  excellence  of  these 
papers,  but  also  to  serve  as  a  contemporaneous  state 
ment  of  the  case  of  the  Confederacy  by  its  President. 
Mr.  Davis'  messages  have  never  been  published,  as 
the  writer  understands,  since  the  close  of  the  war, 
and  can,  it  is  believed,  only  be  found  in  collected 
form  among  the  archives  of  the  War  Department  at 
Washington. 


ME.  DAVIS'  STATE  PAPERS.  363 

If  one  would  see  from  a  Southern  stand-point  the 
reasons  upon  which  the  Confederacy  grounded  itself, 
and  would  look  upon  the  progress  of  the  war  as  the 
Confederates  saw  it,  he  should  read  these  papers.  A 
more  elaborate  exposition  of  the  doctrine  of  States' 
rights,  as  then  held  in  the  South,  is  contained  in  the 
first  volume  of  the  "  Rise  and  Fall  of  the  Confederate 
Government."  There  is  to  be  found  what  the  writer 
deems  the  most  masterly  and  thorough  argument  for 
secession  ever  made ;  but  the  messages  present  the 
question  in  shorter  and  more  attractive  form. 

The  style  of  Jefferson  Davis  is  always  clear,  com 
pact  and  nervous ;  his  thoughts  never  fail  to  be  ad 
mirably  arranged,  and  the  earnestness  of  deep  con 
viction  pervades  all  his  writings ;  but  these  commu 
nications  to  the  Confederate  Congress  were  his  mas 
terpieces. 

The  eyes  of  the  world  were  upon  him.  He  was 
the  head  of  a  people  struggling  for  recognition 
among  the  nations  of  the  earth.  By  the  people  of 
all  these  nations  his  words  would  be  read  and  pon 
dered.  If  he  would  win  their  respect,  he  must  not 
pervert  the  history  of  the  past  or  misrepresent  the 
present.  The  papers  were  equal  to  the  occasion 
that  called  them  forth.  They  were  read  and  ad 
mired  by  the  statesmen  and  savants  of  the  world ; 
they  dignified  the  cause  of  the  Confederacy  abroad 
and  were  greeted  at  home  with  the  liveliest  satisfac- 


304  EEMINISCENCES  OF  JEFFERSON  DAVIS. 

tion.  There,  nothing  contributed  more  to  broaden 
and  intensify  the  conviction  already  fixed  in  the 
minds  of  the  majority,  that,  if  fight  they  must,  it 
was  to  be  in  a  cause  that  was  justified  alike  by  the 
laws  of  man  and  of  God. 

In  the  message  of  April  29th,  1861,  the  case  of 
the  Confederate  States  is  thus  stated : 

"  During  the  war  waged  against  Great  Britain  by 
her  colonies  on  this  continent,  a  common  danger  im 
pelled  them  to  a  close  alliance,  and  to  the  formation 
of  a  confederation,  by  the  terms  of  which  the  colo 
nies,  styling  themselves  States,  entered  'severally 
into  a  firm  league  of  friendship  with  each  other  for 
their  common  defence,  the  security  of  their  liberties, 
and  their  mutual  and  general  welfare,  binding  them 
selves  to  assist  each  other  against  all  force  offered  to, 
or  attacks  made  upon  them  or  any  of  them,  on  ac 
count  of  religion,  sovereignty,  trade  or  any  other 
pretence  whatever/ 

"  In  order  to  guard  against  any  misconstruction 
of  their  compact,  the  several  States  made  explicit 
declaration,  in  a  distinct  article,  that  'each  State 
retains  its  sovereignty,  freedom,  independence,  and 
every  power,  jurisdiction  and  right  which  is  not 
by  this  confederation  'expressly  delegated  to  the 
United  States  in  Congress  assembled.' 

"  Under  this  contract  of  alliance,  the  war  of  the 
Revolution  was  successfully  waged,  and  resulted 


MK.  DAVIS'  STATE  PAPERS.  365 

in  the  treaty  of  peace  with  Great  Britain  in  1783, 
by  the  terms  of  which  the  several  States  were, 
each  l>y  name,  recognized  £o  be  independent/ 

"  The  articles  of  confederation  contained  a  clause 
whereby  all  alterations  were  prohibited  unless  con 
firmed  by  Legislatures  of  every  State,  -after  being 
agreed  to  by  Congress;  and  in  obedience  to  this 
provision  under  the  resolution  of  Congress  of  the 
21st  of  February,  1787,  the  several  States  appointed 
delegates  who  attended  a  Convention  for  the  sole 
and  express  purpose  of  revising  the  articles  of  con 
federation,  and  reporting  to  Congress  and  the  sev 
eral  Legislatures  such  alterations  and  provisions 
therein  as  shall,  when  agreed  to  in  Congress  and 
confirmed  by  the  States,  render  the  Federal  Consti 
tution  adequate  to  the  exigencies  of  government 
and  the  preservation  of  the  Union. 

"  It  was,  by  the  delegates  chosen,  by  the  several 
States  under  the  resolution  just  quoted,  that  the 
Constitution  of  the  United  States  was  framed  in 
1787,  and  submitted  to  the  several  States  for  rati 
fication,  as  shown  by  the  7th  article,  which  is  in 
these  words : 

'"The  ratification  of  the  Conventions  of  nine 
States  shall  be  sufficient  for  the  establishment  of 
this  Constitution  BETWEEN  the  States  so  ratifying 
the  same/ 

"  I   have   italicized  several  words   in  the   quota- 


366  REMINISCENCES  OF  JEFFEKSON  DAVIS. 

tions  just  made  for  the  purpose  of  attracting  at 
tention  to  the  singular  and  marked  caution  with 
which  the  States  endeavored  in  every  possible 
form,  to  exclude  the  idea  that  the  separate  and 
independent  sovereignty  of  each  State  was  merged 
into  one  common  government  and  nation,  and  the 
earnest  desire  they  evinced  to  impress  on  the 
Constitution  its  true  character — that  of  a  compact 
BETWEEN  independent  States. 

"The  Constitution  of  1787  having,  however, 
omitted  the  clause  already  recited  from  the  articles 
of  Confederation,  which  provided  in  explicit  terms, 
that  each  State  retained  its  sovereignty  and  inde 
pendence,  some  alarm  was  felt  in  the  States  when 
invited  to  ratify  the  Constitution,  lest  this  omission 
should  be  construed  into  an  abandonment  of  their 
cherished  principle,  and  they  refused  to  be  satisfied 
until  amendments  were  added  to  the  Constitution, 
placing  beyond  any  pretence  of  doubt,  the  reserva 
tion  by  the  States  of  all  their  sovereign  rights  and 
powers — not  expressly  delegated  to  the  United  States 
by  the  Constitution. 

"  Strange  indeed  must  it  appear  to  the  impartial 
observer,  but  it  is  none  the  less  true,  that  all  these 
carefully  worded  clauses  proved  unavailing  to  pre 
vent  the  rise  and  growth  in  the  Northern  States  of 
a  political  school  which  has  persistently  claimed 
that  the  government  thus  formed  was  not  a  compact 


ME.  DAVIS'  STATE  PAPERS.  367 

between  States,  but  was  in  effect  a  national  govern 
ment  set  up  above  and  over  the  States. 

"  An  organization,  created  by  the  States  to  secure 
the  blessings  of  liberty  and  independence,  against 
foreign  aggression,  has  been  gradually  perverted  into 
a  machine  for  their  control  in  their  domestic  affairs  : 
the  creature  has  been  exalted  above  its  creators  ;  the 
principals  have  been  made  subordinate  to  the  agent 
appointed  by  themselves. 

"  The  people  of  the  Southern  States,  whose  almost 
exclusive  occupation  was  agriculture,  early  perceived 
a  tendency  in  the  Northern  States  to  render  the 
common  government  subservient  to  their  purposes, 
by  imposing  burthens  on  commerce  as  a  protection 
to  their  manufacturing  and  shipping  interests. 

"  Long  and  angry  controversy  grew  out  of  these 
attempts,  often  successful,  to  benefit  one  section  of 
the  country  at  the  expense  of  the  other. 

"  And  the  danger  of  disruption  arising  from  this 
cause  was  enhanced  by  the  fact  that  the  Northern 
population  was  increasing  by  immigration  and  other 
causes  in  a  greater  ratio  than  the  population  of  the 
South.  By  degrees  as  the  Northern  States  gained 
preponderance  in  the  National  Congress,  self-interest 
taught  their  people  to  yield  ready  assent  to  any 
plausible  advocacy  of  their  right  as  a  majority  to 
govern  the  minority  without  control :  they  learned 
to  listen  with  impatience  to  the  suggestion  of  any 


368  KEMINISCENCES  OF  JEFFERSON  DAVIS.       • 

constitutional  impediment  to  the  exercise  of  their 
will :  and  so  utterly  have  the  principles  of  the  Con 
stitution  been  corrupted  in  the  Northern  mind,  that 
in  the  inaugural  address  delivered  by  President 
Lincoln  in  March  last,  he  asserts  as  an  axiom  which 
he  plainly  deems  to  be  undeniable,  that  the  theory 
of  the  Constitution  requires  that  in  all  cases  the 
majority  shall  govern;  and  in  another  memorable 
instance,  the  same  Chief  Magistrate  did  not  hesitate 
to  liken  the  relations  between  a  State  and  the  United 
States  to  those  which  exist  between  a  county  and 
the  State  in  which  it  is  situated  and  by  which  it  was 
created. 

"This  is  the  lamentable  and  fundamental  error 
on  which  rests  the  policy  that  has  culminated  in  his 
declaration  of  war  against  these  Confederate  States. 

"  In  addition  to  the  long-continued  and  deep-seated 
resentment  felt  by  the  Southern  States  at  the  per 
sistent  abuse  of  the  powers  they  had  delegated  to  the 
Congress,  for  the  purpose  of  enriching  the  manu 
facturing  and  shipping  classes  of  the  North  at  the 
expense  of  the  South,  there  has  existed  for  nearly 
half  a  century  another  subject  of  discord,  involving 
interests  of  such  transcendent  magnitude,  as  at  all 
times  to  create  the  apprehension  in  the  minds  of 
many  devoted  lovers  of  the  Union,  that  its  perma 
nence  was  impossible. 

"  When  the  several  States  delegated  certain  powers 


MR  DAVIS'  STATE  PAPERS.  369 

to  the  United  States  Congress,  a  large  portion  of  the 
laboring  population  consisted  of  African  slaves  im 
ported  into  the  colonies  by  the  mother  country. 

"  In  twelve  out  of  the  thirteen  States,  negro 
slavery  existed,  and  the  right  of  property  in  slaves 
was  protected  by  law. 

"  This  property  was  recognized  in  the  Constitu 
tion,  and  provision  was  made  against  its  loss  by  the 
escape  of  the  slave.  The  increase  in  the  number  of 
slaves  by  further  importation  from  Africa  was  also 
secured  by  a  clause  forbidding  Congress  to  prohibit 
the  slave  trade  anterior  to  a  certain  date  ;  and  in  no 
clause  can  there  be  found  any  delegation  of  power  to 
the  Congress  authorizing  it  in  any  manner  to  legis 
late  to  the  prejudice,  detriment  or  discouragement  of 
the  owners  of  that  species  of  property,  or  excluding 
it  from  the  protection  of  the  government. 

"  The  climate  and  soil  of  the  Northern  States  soon 
proved  unpropitious  to  the  continuance  of  slave 
labor,  whilst  the  converse  was  the  case  at  the  South. 
Under  the  unrestricted  free  intercourse  between  the 
two  sections,  the  Northern  States  consulted  their 
own  interest  by  selling  their  slaves  to  the  South,  and 
prohibiting  slavery  within  their  limits.  The  South 
were  willing  purchasers  of  a  property  suitable  to 
their  wants,  and  paid  the  price  of  the  acquisition 
without  harboring  a  suspicion  that  their  quiet  pos 
session  was  to  be  disturbed  by  those  who  were  in- 
24 


370  KEMINISCENCES  OF  JEFFERSON  DAVIS. 

hibited,  not  only  by  want  of  constitutional  authority, 
but  by  good  faith  as  vendors,  from  disquieting  a  title 
emanating  from  themselves. 

"As  soon,  however,  as  the  Northern  States  that 
prohibited  African  slavery  within  their  limits  had 
reached  a  number  sufficient  to  give  their  representa 
tion  a  controlling  voice  in  the  Congress,  a  persistent 
and  organized  system  of  hostile  measures  against  the 
right  of  the  owners  of  slaves  in  the  Southern  States 
was  inaugurated,  and  gradually  extended.  A  con 
tinuous  series  of  measures  was  devised  and  prosecuted 
for  the  purpose  of  rendering  insecure  the  tenure  of 
property  in  slaves  :  fanatical  organizations,  supplied 
with  money  by  voluntary  subscriptions,  were  assidu 
ously  engaged  in  exciting  among  the  slaves  a  spirit 
of  discontent  and  revolt;  means  were  furnished  for 
their  escape  from  their  owners,  and  agents  secretly 
employed  to  entice  them  to  abscond ;  the  constitu 
tional  provision  for  their  rendition  to  their  owners 
was  first  evaded,  then  openly  denounced  as  a  viola 
tion  of  conscientious  obligation  and  religious  duty ; 
men  were  taught  that  it  was  a  merit  to  elude,  dis 
obey,  and  violently  oppose  the  execution  of  the  laws 
enacted  to  secure  the  performance  of  the  promises 
contained  in  the  constitutional  compact ;  owners  of 
slaves  were  mobbed,  and  even  murdered  in  open 
day,  solely  for  applying  to  a  magistrate  for  the  ar 
rest  of  ,a  fugitive  slave ;  the  dogmas  of  these  volun- 


MB.  DAVIS'  STATE  PAPERS.  371 

tary  organizations  soon  obtained  control  of  the  legis 
latures  of  many  of  the  Northern  States,  and  laws 
were  passed  providing  for  the  punishment  by  ruinous 
fines  and  long  continued  imprisonment  in  jails  and 
penitentiaries,  of  citizens  of  the  Southern  States,  who 
should  dare  to  ask  aid  of  the  officers  of  the  law  for 
the  recovery  of  their  property. 

"  Emboldened  by  success,  the  theatre  of  agitation 
and  aggression  against  the  clearly  expressed  consti 
tutional  rights  of  the  Southern  States  was  trans 
ferred  to  the  Congress;  Senators  and  Representa-* 
tives  were  sent  to  the  common  councils  of  the 
nation,  whose  chief  title  to  this  distinction  consisted 
in  the  display  of  a  spirit  of  ultra  fanaticism,  and 
whose  business  was,  not  '  to  promote  the  general 
welfare  or  ensure  domestic  tranquillity/  but  to  awa 
ken  the  bitterest  hatred  against  the  citizens  of  sister 
States  by  violent  denunciations  of  their  institutions ; 
the  transaction  of  public  affairs  was  impeded  by  re 
peated  efforts  to  usurp  powers  not  delegated  by  the 
Constitution,  for  the  purpose  of  impairing  the  secu 
rity  of  property  in  slaves,  and  reducing  the  States 
which  held  slaves  to  a  condition  of  inferiority.  Fi 
nally,  a  great  party  was  organized  for  the  purpose 
of  obtaining  the  administration  of  the  government, 
with  the  avowed  object  of  using  its  power  for  the 
total  exclusion  of  the  slave  States  from  all  partici 
pation  in  the  benefit  of  the  public  domain,  acquired 


372  KEMINISCENCES  OF  JEFFERSON  DA  Via 

by  all  the  States  in  common,  whether  by  conquest 
or  purchase ;  of  surrounding  them  entirely  by  States 
in  which  slavery  should  be  prohibited ;  of  thus  ren 
dering  the  property  in  slaves  so  insecure  as  to  be 
comparatively  worthless,  and  thereby  annihilating 
in  effect  property  worth  thousands  of  millions  of 
dollars. 

"This  party,  thus  organized,  succeeded  in  the 
month  of  November  last  in  the  election  of  its  candi 
date  for  the  Presidency  of  the  United  States. 

"In  the  mean  time,  under  the  mild  and  genial  cli 
mate  of  the  Southern  States  and  the  increasing  care 
and  attention  for  the  well-being  and  comfort  of  the 
laboring  class,  dictated  alike  by  interest  and  hu 
manity,  the  African  slaves  had  augmented  in  num 
ber  from  600,000,  at  the  d»ate  of  the  adoption  of  the 
constitutional  compact,  to  upwards  of  4,000,000. 
In  moral  and  social  condition  they  had  been  ele 
vated  from  brutal  savages  into  docile,  intelligent 
and  civilized  agricultural  laborers,  and  supplied  not 
only  with  bodily  comforts,  but  with  careful  religious 
instruction. 

"  Under  the  supervision  of  a  superior  race,  their 
labor  had  been  so  directed  as  not  only  to  allow  a 
gradual  and  marked  amelioration  of  their  condition, 
but  to  convert  hundreds  of  thousands  of  square 
miles  of  wilderness  into  qultivated  lands,  covered 
with  a  prosperous  people ;  towns  and  cities  had 


MR  DAVIS'  STATE  PAPERS.  373 

sprung  into  existence,  and  had  rapidly  increased  in 
wealth  and  population  under  the  social  system  of 
the  South ;  the  white  population  of  the  Southern 
slave-holding  States  had  augmented  from  about 
1,250,000  at  the  date  of  the  adoption  of  the  Consti 
tution,  to  more  than  8,500,000  in  1860;  and  the 
productions  of  the  South  in  cotton,  rice,  sugar  and 
tobacco,  for  the  full  development  and  continuance 
of  which  the  labor  of  African  slaves  was  and  is  in 
dispensable,  had  swollen  to  an  amount  which  formed 
nearly  three-fourths  of  the  exports  of  the  whole 
United  States,  and  had  become  absolutely  necessary 
to  the  wants  of  civilized  man. 

"  With  interests  of  such  overwhelming  magnitude 
imperilled,  the  people  of  the  Southern  States  were 
driven  by  the  conduct  of  the  North  to  the  adoption 
of  some  course  of  action  to  avert  the  danger  with 
which  they  were  openly  menaced. 

"  With  this  view,  the  Legislatures  of  the  several 
States  invited  the  people  to  select  delegates  to  Con 
ventions,  to  be  held  for  the  purpose  of  determining 
for  themselves  what  measures  were  best  adapted  to 
meet  so  alarming  a  crisis  in  their  history. 

"  Here  it  may  be  proper  to  observe  that  from  a 
period  as  early  as  1798  there  had  existed  in  all  of 
the  States  of  the  Union  a  party,  almost  uninterrupt 
edly  in  the  majority,  based  upon  the  creed  that 
each  State  was,  in  the  last  resort,  the  sole  judge  as 


374  REMINISCENCES  OF  JEFFERSON  DAVIS. 

well  of  its  wrongs  as  of  the  mode  and  measure  of 
redress.  Indeed,  it  is  obvious  that,  under  the  law 
of  nations,  this  principle  is  an  axiom  as  applied  to 
the  relations  of  independent  sovereign  States,  such 
as  those  which  had  united  themselves  under  the 
constitutional  compact.  The  Democratic  Party  of 
the  United  States  repeated,  in  its  successful  canvass 
in  1856,  the  declaration  made  in  numerous  previous 
political  contests,  that  it  would  '  faithfully  abide  by 
and  uphold  the  principles  laid  down  in  the  Ken 
tucky  and  Virginia  resolutions  of  1798,  and  in  the 
report  of  Mr.  Madison  to  the  Virginia  Legislature 
in  1799,  and  that  it  adopts  those  principles  as  con 
stituting  one  of  the  main  foundations  of  its  political 
creed/ 

"  The  principles  thus  emphatically  announced,  em 
brace  that  to  which  I  have  already  adverted, — the 
right  of  each  to  judge  of  and  redress  the  wrongs  of 
which  it  complains.  These  principles  were  main 
tained  by  overwhelming  majorities  of  the  people  of 
all  the  States  of  the  Union  at  different  elections, 
especially  in  the  elections  of  Mr.  Jefferson  in  1805, 
Mr.  Madison  in  1809  and  Mr.  Pierce  in  1852. 

"  In  the  exercise  of  a  right  so  ancient,  so  well 
established  and  so  necessary  for  self-preservation,  the 
people  of  the  Confederate  States  in  their  conven 
tions,  determined  that  the  wrongs  which  they  had 
suffered,  and  the  evils  with  which  they  were  men- 


ME.  DAVIS'  STATE  PAPEKS.  375 

aced,  required  that  they  should  revoke  the  delegation 
of  powers  to  the  Federal  Government  which  they  had 
ratified  in  their  several  conventions.  They  conse 
quently  passed  ordinances  resuming  all  their  rights 
as  sovereign  and  independent  States,  and  dissolved 
their  connection  with  the  other  States  of  the  Union." 

This  message  was  written  after  the  fall  of  Fort 
Sumter.  It  will  be  curious  to  many  modern  readers 
to  run  over  a  portion  of  what  Mr.  Davis  said  about 
the  firing  of  the  first  gun  of  the  war.  That  gun 
had  electrified  the  North.  Thousands  sprang  to 
arms  who  had  been  hesitating.  The  "rebels  had 
fired  on  the  flag."  The  Secessionists  had  precipitated 
war  while  multitudes  of  patriotic  citizens  were  still 
praying  and  planning  and  even  hoping  for  the  con 
tinuance  of  peace.  This  was  the  Northern  view  of 
the  question,  and  it  is  the  theory  accepted  in  the 
current  history  of  to-day.  The  Union  prevailed  in 
the  contest  that  was  then  beginning.  Her  courts 
have  construed  the  conduct  and  her  historians  have 
written  the  story  of  the  war. 

History  as  written  hereafter,  may  not  and  proba 
bly  will  not,  accept  fully  either  the  Federal  or  Con 
federate  version.  But  one  thing  is  beyond  perad- 
venture.  The  Confederates  had  been  led  to  believe 
that  Fort  Sumter,  commanding  Charleston  Harbor, 
was  not  to  be  victualed,  that  the  United  States  forces 
there  under  Major  Anderson  were  not  to  be  placed 


376  REMINISCENCES  OF  JEFFERSON  DAVIS. 

in  a  condition  to  continue  the  siege  of  the  city. 
Nothing  puts  in  so  sharp  a  contrast  the  views  then 
held  North  and  South  as  Fort  Sumter.  The  attempt 
by  the  Federal  Government  to  provision  it  was 
looked  upon  in  the  South  as  a  first  step  in  the  parri 
cidal  crime  of  coercing  a  sovereign  State. 

President  Davis  in  his  message,  affer  a  narrative 
ending  with  th«  fall  of  Sumter,  says : 

"  In  this  connection  I  cannot  refrain  from  a  well- 
deserved  tribute  to  the  noble  State,  the  eminent  sol 
dierly  qualities  of  whose  people  were  so  conspicuously 
displayed  in  the  port  of  Charleston.  For  months 
they  had  been  irritated  by  the  spectacle  of  a  fortress 
held  within  their  principal  harbor,  as  a  standing 
menace  against  their  peace  and  independence.  Built 
in  part  with  their  own  money,  its  custody  confided 
with  their  own  consent  to  an  agent  who  held  no 
power  over  them,  other  than  such  as  they  had  them 
selves  delegated  for  their  own  benefit,  intended  to  be 
used  by  that  agent  for  their  own  protection  against 
foreign  attack,  they  saw  it  held  with  persistent  tena 
city  as  a  means  of  offence  against  them  by  the  very 
government  which  they  had  established  for  their 
protection.  They  had  beleaguered  it  for  months — 
felt  entire  confidence  in  their  power  to  capture  it, — 
yet  yielded  to  the  requirements  of  discipline,  curbed 
their  impatience,  submitted  without  complaint  to  the 
unaccustomed  hardships,  labors  and  privations  of  a 


MR.  DAVIS'  STATE  PAPERS.  377 

protracted  siege ;  and  when  at  length  their  patience 
was  rewarded  by  the  signal  for  attack,  and  success 
had  crowned  their  steady  and  gallant  conduct — even 
in  the  very  moment  of  triumph,  they  evinced  a 
chivalrous  regard  for  the  feelings  of  the  brave  but 
unfortunate  officer  who  had  been  compelled  to  lower 
his  flag.  All  manifestations  of  exultation  were 
checked  in  his  presence.  Their  commanding  general, 
with  their  cordial  approval  and  the  consent  of  his 
government,  refrained  from  imposing  any  terms  that 
could  wound  the  sensibilities  of  the  commander  of 
the  Fort.  He  was  permitted  to  retire  with  the  hon 
ors  of  war — ip  salute  his  flag,  to  depart  freely  with 
all  his  command,  and  was  escorted  to  the  vessel  in 
which  he  embarked,  with  the  highest  marks  of  re 
spect  from  those  against  whom  his  guns  had  been  so 
recently  directed.  Not  only  does  every  event  con 
nected  with  the  siege  reflect  the  highest  honor  on 
South  Carolina,  but  the  forbearance  of  her  people  and 
of  this  government,  from  making  any  harsh  use  of  a 
victory  obtained  under  circumstances  of  such  peculiar 
provocation,  attest  to  the  fullest  extent  the  absence  of 
any  purpose  beyond  securing  their  own  tranquillity, 
and  the  sincere  desire  to  avoid  the  calamities  of  the 


war." 


Tennessee  that,  by  a  vote  of  many  thousands, 
had  indicated  her  intention  to  remain  in  the  Union, 
almost  before  the  sound  of  the  Fort  Suinter  guns 


378  REMINISCENCES  OF  JEFFERSON  DAVIS. 

had  died  away,  voted  herself  out  by  an  immense 
majority.  So  in  North  Carolina  and  so  it  was  in 
Virginia. 

Between  sections  holding  such  diverse  views 
war  was  inevitable.  It  had  already  begun,  the 
seceding  and  adhering  States  each  holding  the 
other  responsible  for  its  commencement. 

It  is  impossible  to  describe  the  enthusiasm  that 
pervaded  the  South.  Banners  were  flying  and 
drums  were  beating.  The  heroic  age  had  come 
again.  The  day  of  the  Almighty  Dollar  was  gone. 
Money,  ease,  luxury,  all  these  were  as  nought 
when  liberty,  the  right  of  self-government  that  our 
fathers  had  fought  for,  was  at  stake. 

It  was  on  a  bright  morning  in  the  latter  part 
of  the  month  of  May,  1861,  that  a  company  from 
Butler  County,  Alabama — the  Greenville  Guards — 
boarded  the  cars  bound  for  the  seat  of  war  in 
Virginia.  The  writer  of  this  had  been  chosen  Captain, 
and  was  in  charge,  but  he  had  received  no  com 
mission  and  none  of  the  men  or  officers  had  been 
mustered  in.  Their  enlistment,  however,  needed 
no  sanction  then  from  the  law.  They  had  volun 
teered  to  fight  together  the  battles  of  their  country 
and  were  on  their  way  to  the  front.  The  spirit 
that  animated  the  Captain  and  each  of  his  men 
was  aptly  described  by  Mr.  Davis  when  he  said, 
in  concluding  his  message  of  April  29th : 


ME.  DAVIS'  STATE  PAPEKS.  379 

"We  feel  that  our  cause  is  just  and  holy;  we 
protest  solemnly  in  the  face  of  mankind  that  we 
desire  peace  at  any  sacrifice,  save  that  of  honor  and 
independence ;  we  seek  no  conquest,  no  aggrandize 
ment,  no  concession  of  any  kind  from  the  States 
with  which  we  were  lately  confederated;  all  we 
ask  is  to  be  let  alone ;  that  those  who  never  held 
power  over  us  shall  not  now  attempt  our  subju 
gation  by  arms.  This  we  will,  this  we  must  re 
sist  to  the  direst  extremity.  The  moment  that 
this  pretension  is  abandoned,  the  sword  will  drop 
from  our  grasp  and  we  shall  be  ready  to  enter 
into  treaties  of  amity  and  commerce  that  cannot 
but  be  mutually  beneficial.  So  long  as  this  pre 
tension  is  maintained,  with  a  firm  reliance  on  that 
Divine  Power  which  covers  with  its  protection 
the  just  cause,  we  will  continue  to  struggle  for 
our  inherent  right  to  freedom,  independence  and 
self-government." 

This  feeling  pervaded  the  whole  country :  it  was 
manifest  everywhere.  At  every  station  men,  women 
and  children  were  gathered  to  bid  the  soldiers  God 
speed. 

At  Covington,  Georgia,  the  young  ladies  of  a  Fe 
male  College  had  come  down  to  the  cars  to  greet 
us  with  flowers  and  refreshments.  They  gave  an 
immense  and  beautiful  bouquet  to  the  young  captain. 
We  had  learned  that  Mrs.  Davis,  the  wife  of  the 


380  REMINISCENCES  OF  JEFFERSON  DAVIS. 

President,  was  on  board,  traveling  without  especial 
escort  to  Richmond.  As  soon  as  the  fair  donors  of 
the  bouquet  were  left  behind,  Captain  Herbert  ap 
proached  and,  in  the  happiest  phrases  he  could  com 
mand,  presented  it  to  Mrs.  Davis,  proffering  at  the 
same  time  his  Company  as  a  guard  of  honor.  She 
was  very  gracious,  invited  the  young  officer  to  lunch 
with  her,  and  in  a  short  time  had  taken  him  com 
pletely  captive.  Since  she  left  the  train  at  Rich 
mond  I  have  never  seen  Mrs.  Davis.  If  these  lines 
shall  ever  meet  her  eyes,  let  me  convey  to  her 
through  this  medium  the  lasting  gratitude  of  the 
young  man  who  cherishes  still  the  memory  of  the 
pleasant  moments  he  spent  in  her  presence.  She 
has  probably  forgotten  him.  He  will  never  cease  to 
remember  her.  She  appeared  then  to  be  twenty- 
eight  or  thirty  years  old,  tall,  queenly  and  hand 
some,  making  no  effort  at  sprightliness  of  manner,  but 
she  was  always  earnest,  unaffected  and  womanly. 

Shortly  after  our  arrival  in  Richmond  the  officers 
of  the  ten  companies  which  were  to  form  the  Eighth 
Alabama  Regiment  met  and  selected  three  of  their 
number  as  field  officers,  Major,  Lieutenant-Colonel 
and  Colonel.  As  the  writer  was  not  of  these,  he 
became  one  of  a  committee  to  wait  upon  President 
Davis  and  ask  him  to  commission  the  officers  we  had 
thus,  without  authorization,  elected.  Mr.  Davis  re 
ceived  us  pleasantly,  listened  attentively  to  all  we 


ME.  DAVIS'  STATE  PAPEKS.  381 

had  to  say,  and  then  told  us  he  had  other  plans  for 
the  regiment.  He  was  very  courteous  and  explained 
at  some  length  why  he  could  not  comply  with  our 
wishes.  The  interview  impressed  us  all  with  the 
idea  that  the  President  knew  what  he  was  about, 
though  it  is  quite  probable  that  the  gentlemen  who 
failed  to  get  the  positions  to  which  they  had  been 
chosen  were  of  a  different  opinion. 

The  writer  never  saw  Mr.  Davis  again.  But  he 
remembers  well  that  though  he  did  not  accept  with 
out  question  the  wisdom  of  his  every  act,  he  never 
failed  to  admire  every  document  that  came  from  the 
President  of  the  Confederacy.  Not  only  did  he  state 
with  unsurpassed  cleverness  the  political  case  of  the 
Confederacy,  but  his  discussions  of  the  manner  in 
which  the  war  was  conducted  by  the  enemy,  of  cam 
paigns,  of  the  law  of  blockage  and  the  rights  of 
neutrals,  and  his  appeals  to  the  spirit  and  patriotism 
of  the  people  were  all  such  as  could  only  come  from 
a  statesman  of  ripe  culture,  rare  ability  and  sincere 
patriotism. 


JEFFERSON  DAVIS. 

BY   HON.    W.    C.    P.    BRECKHSHRIDGE. 
Member  of  Congress  from  Kentucky. 

JEFFERSON   DAVIS  was  born  in  what  is  now 
Todd   County,   Kentucky,   on   the    3d   day   of 
June,  1808,  and  was  a  student  at  the  Transyl 
vania   University  in   the  City   of  Lexington,  Ky., 
when  he  received  his  warrant  as  cadet  at  the  Mili 
tary  Academy  of  West  Point.     His  first  wife  was  a 
Kentucky  girl,  the  daughter  of  Zachary  Taylor ;  and 
during  his  life  he  was  intimately  connected  with  a 
good  many  of  the  most  distinguished  Kentuckians  of 
that  period. 

His  father  was  a  farmer,  in  the  Virginia  and  Ken 
tucky  sense  of  that  word ;  a  man  owning  slaves  and 
living  upon  and  managing  the  land  which  was  tilled 
by  those  slaves ;  and  the  early  boyhood  of  Mr. 
Davis  was  spent  upon  a  Kentucky  farm.  There 
cannot  be  a  more  simple,  moral  and  happy  life  than 
that  of  the  average  Virginia  and  Kentucky  farmer ; 
the  influences  which  surround  children  born  and 
reared  in  such  families  were  good,  and  only  good. 
The  constant  open  air  exercise ;  the  habitual  work 
required ;  the  frequent  out-door  sports ;  the  necessary 

horse-back  exercise ;  the  simple  but  nutritious  food ; 
382 


JEFFERSON  DAVIS.  383 

developed  to  the  highest  capacity  the  physical  facul 
ties.  The  boys  unconsciously  became  expert  shots, 
daring  and  skillful  horsemen,  ready  and  handy  in 
every  form  of  agricultural  labor,  stout,  active  and 
graceful ;  keen  and  accurate  of  eye ;  ready,  skillful 
and  expert  of  hand.  The  moral  influence  was 
equally  beneficent;  daily  family  prayers  and  the 
constant  and  open  recognition  of  the  presence  of  an 
overruling  Providence,  and  the  habitual  and  reverent 
instruction  in  religious  truths,  made  the  children  of 
such  a  household  sincere  and  earnest  believers  in  the 
Bible  and  its  truths,  even  when  they  did  not  profess 
to  be  Christians  and  in  their  daily  life  were  not  con 
trolled  by  its  regulations.  The  simple  rudiments 
of  the  field  school  were  well  taught,  and  while  the 
curriculum  was  comparatively  narrow,  it  was  thor 
ough,  and  laid  the  foundation  of  any  educational  and 
intellectual  superstructure  that  the  ambition,  intel 
lect  and  opportunities  of  the  scholar  might  urge  him 
to  build  thereon. 

When  Mr.  Davis,  a  mere  lad,  entered  West  Point 
he  was  a  high  but  still  a  fair  type  of  the  southwest 
ern  country  lad ;  above  average  height,  muscular, 
athletic,  expert,  a  keen  sportsman,  a  graceful  rider, 
a  fine  shot,  a  good  dancer ;  in  morals  clean,  truthful, 
admirable ;  in  mind  earnest,  thoughtful,  well  pre 
pared  and  well-trained.  His  training  at  West  Point 
developed  his  better  qualities,  and  when  he  grad- 


384  REMINISCENCES  OF  JEFFEESON  DAVIS. 

uated  he  was  thoroughly  prepared  for  a  brilliant 
army  career  either  in  peace  or  war ;  and  from  the 
day  on  which  he  received  his  commission  until  the 
day  of  his  death,  an  old  and  broken  man,  it  is  not 
too  much  to  say  that  he  never  faced  an  emergency 
which  either  dazed,  surprised  or  confused  him. 
During  that  long  and  marvelous  career  he  had  the 
thorough  command  of  himself  and  all  his  faculties. 

It  is  not  within  the  scope  of  the  duty  allotted  to 
me  to  give  any  account  of  his  deeds  or  any  history 
of  his  life.  But  the  personality  of  Mr.  Davis  was  so 
marked  and  so  impressive  that  no  one  ever  came 
into  contact  with  him,  even  the  most  casual  and  in 
cidental,  who  was  not  impressed  therewith.  And  it 
is  this  which  made  the  most  lasting  impression  on 
me  in  the  few  personal  interviews  I  had  with  him, 
and  in  the  somewhat  rare  occasions  when  I  came 
into  personal  relations  with  him. 

It  so  happened  that  I  reached  Richmond,  Virginia, 
late  on  Saturday,  July  20th,  1861,  the  evening  be 
fore  the  Battle  of  Manassas,  and  that  I  had  an  inter 
view  with  Mr.  Davis  on  the  Thursday  succeeding 
that  battle — an  interview  concerning  the  state  of 
affairs  in  'Kentucky,  the  policy  which  ought  to  be 
pursued  by  the  Confederate  Government  towards 
such  Kentuckians  as  desired  to  enter  the  Confederate 
service,  and  the  action  which  Mr.  Davis  might  see 
his  way  clear  to  take  in  the  acceptance  and  organi- 


JEFFEBSON  DAVIS.  385 

zation  of  these  Kentuckians.  It  was  to  me  an  en 
tirely  unsatisfactory  interview ;  he  declined  in  the 
most  positive,  though  kindly  and  gentle  manner  to 
do  or  authorize  to  be  done  every  thing  which  I  urged 
upon  him ;  and  our  views  did  not  at  all  agree. 

In  the  winter  of  1 864,  after  the  romantic  escape 
of  General  John  H.  Morgan  from  the  Columbus  Pen 
itentiary,  I  was  ordered  to  Richmond,  and  was  pres 
ent  at  an  interview  between  Mr.  Davis  and  General 
Morgan ;  and  the  views  earnestly  pressed  by  General 
Morgan  and  in  which  I  cordially  shared  were  not 
agreeable  to  Mr.  Davis  and  did  not  receive  his  ap 
proval,  though  his  personal  bearing  was  exceedingly 
complimentary  to  General  Morgan  and  personally 
kind  to  the  younger  officers  who  were  present. 

In  April,  1865,  the  cavalry  division  of  General 
Geo.  G.  Dibrell,  of  Tennessee,  which  consisted  of  a 
Tennessee  brigade  under  Colonel  McLemore,  and  a 
Kentucky  brigade  of  which  I  was  then  in  command, 
was  ordered  to  report  to  Mr.  Davis  at  Greensborough, 
North  Carolina;  and  that  division  remained  with 
him  from  about  April  the  15th  until  May  the  3d, 
when  it  divided,  the  larger  part  accepting  the  terms 
of  surrender  agreed  upon  between  Generals  Johnston 
and  Sherman,  and  the  smaller  part  delaying  their 
surrender  for  some  days.  During  this  march  from 
Greensborough  to  Washington,  Georgia,  covering 

that  period  of  the  disintegration  of  the  Confederacy, 
25 


386  REMINISCENCES  OF  JEFFERSON  DAVIS. 

from  the  middle  of  April  to  the  first  days  in  May, 
necessarily  I  saw  much  of  Mr.  Davis  and  his  cabinet 
and  the  officers  of  rank  who  were  with  him.  One  of 
the  most  striking  scenes  I  recall  is  of  a  conference  held 
at  the  residence  of  Mr.  Burt,  at  Abbeville,  South 
Carolina,  on  the  afternoon  of  May  the  1st,  at  which 
conference  Mr.  Davis  presided,  and  General  Bragg, 
John  C.  Breckin ridge,  then  acting  Secretary  of  War, 
John  0.  Vaughan  of  Tennessee,  General  Dibrell  of 
Tennessee,  General  S.  W.  Ferguson  of  Mississippi, 
General  Basil  W.  Duke  of  Kentucky  and  I  were 
present.  The  surrender  of  the  army  of  General 
Johnston  had  taken  place  some  days  prior  thereto. 
General  Wilson  had  captured  Macon  and  substantially 
closed  the  war  west  of  Washington,  Georgia ;  Mo 
bile  had  fallen,  and  the  only  organized  troops  east  of 
the  Mississippi  River  of  which  we  had  any  knowl 
edge  were  the  five  small  cavalry  brigades  commanded 
by  the  five  cavalry  officers  present  at  the  conference. 
The  result  of  that  conference  was  that  Mr.  Davis 
pushed  on  to  Washington,  Ga.,  crossing  the  Savan 
nah  River,  with  the  purpose  of  making  his  way  to 
the  trans-Mississippi.  His  speedy  capture,  caused 
by  an  unfortunate  report  of  danger  to  his  wife,  which 
made  him  change  his  course  and  join  her,  of  course 
put  an  end  to  any  possibility,  if  indeed  there  was 
any  such  possibility,  of  any  continuance  of  hostili 
ties. 


JEFFERSON  DAVIS.  387 

I  have  never  seen  Mr.  Davis  since  we  separated 
that  May  afternoon  in  Abbeville. 

On  all  these  occasions  the  impression  of  the  per 
sonal  virtues,  capacity  and  power  of  Mr.  Davis  con 
stantly  deepened.  He  was  an  absolutely  frank, 
direct  and  positive  man ;  he  never  paltered  in  any 
double  sense  with  any  one ;  he  made  himself  thor 
oughly  and  perfectly  understood;  he  consented  or 
refused  to  do  with  entire  frankness,  so  that  no  one 
ever  justly  left  him  with  a  doubtful  impression  as  to 
what  his  views  were  or  what  would  be  his  conduct. 
He  was  veracious  in  the  highest  sense  of  that 
phrase, — not  merely  truthful  in  the  narration  of 
past  occurrences  or  accurate  in  his  utterances,  but 
of  the  highest  integrity  of  thought  and  act  and  life ; 
and  this  was,  of  course,  accompanied  with  the  most 
intrepid  courage,  for  superb  veracity  of  character  is 
based  on  dauntless  courage — that  universal  courage 
which  is  sometimes  separated  and  called  physical  or 
mental  or  moral ;  his  pervaded  every  quality  of  his 
nature.  He  never  knew  what  it  was  to  fear  an 
adversary  in  any  arena.  As  lieutenant  on  the 
frontier ;  as  commander  of  a  regiment  in  the  crisis 
at  Buena  Vista;  as  Secretary  of  War  in  the  con 
flicting  debates  with  distinguished  officers;  on  the 
stump  in  Mississippi,  with  able  and  adroit  debaters ; 
in  the  Senate  of  the  United  States  in  perhaps  its 
ablest  and  brightest  period ;  at  the  head  of  the  Cab- 


388  REMINISCENCES  OF  JEFFERSON  DAVIS. 

inet  councils  during  the  darkest  day  of  the  Confed 
erate  War,  amid  the  disastrous  and  disintegrating 
days  when  he  saw  the  Confederacy  going  to  pieces 
around  him;  bearing  the  cruelties  inflicted  upon 
him  in  the  casemate  at  Fortress  Monroe ;  a  disfran 
chised  citizen  of  the  Republic;  or  as  an  old  man, 
calmly  facing  death, — he  exhibited  the  same  calm, 
composed  and  unaffected  intrepidity.  This  combined 
courage  and  veracity  made  him  a  pure  man  in  all 
the  relations  of  private  and  public  life,  so  that  during 
all  the  years  in  which  malignancy  searched  with 
microscopic  power  for  a  flaw  in  his  life  or  conduct, 
there  was  never  found  a  single  act  of  which  any 
friend  need  be  ashamed,  nor  a  single  word  which 
might  not  have  been  uttered  in  the  presence  of  his 
wife  or  to  his  daughter. 

This  is  a  superb  life, — so  veracious  that  no  man 
was  ever  deceived,  so  intrepid  that  no  duty  was 
ever  shirked,  and  so  pure  that  no  flaw  was  ever 
found. 

To  these  great  personal  qualities  were  added  un 
usual  mental  gifts.  It  may  be  hereafter  held  that 
Mr.  Davis  did  not  belong  to  the  rank  of  the  very 
greatest  intellects ;  that  those  who  followed  him  had 
fair  ground  to  claim  that  he  did,  will  be  granted 
readily  by  those  who  studied  most  closely  what  he 
did  rather  than  merely  what  he  uttered.  For  while 
Mr.  Davis  was  an  orator  of  high  rank,  a  debater  of 


JEFFERSON  DAVIS.  389 

unusual  power  and  a  writer  of  pure  and  forcible 
English,  he  will  perhaps  hereafter  rank  higher  as 
an  executive  officer  and  as  a  man  of  action  than  as 
an  orator  or  writer.  His  State  papers  are  indeed 
models,  and  his  short  speeches  are  among  the  very 
highest  specimens  of  that  form  of  public  oratory; 
but  when  we  attempt  to  measure  what  was  done  by 
him  and  under  his  supervision,  it  may  well  be  ad 
mitted  that  he  was  greater  in  the  cabinet  and  as  a 
man  of  action  than  as  a  man  of  speech.  He  is 
easily  the  peer  of  the  very  greatest  Secretary  of 
War  which  our  Government  has  ever  had,  and  he 
administered  the  affairs  of  that  important  depart 
ment  with  uncommon  skill,  exhibiting  the  highest 
administrative  ability. 

What  he  did  as  President  of  the  Confederate 
States  has  not  yet  been  entirely  ascertained  and 
published.  The  history  of  the  military  operations 
during  the  war  is  so  much  more  attractive  that  it 
has  obscured  the  investigation  into,  and  the  neces 
sary  publication  of  the  facts  connected  with  the  civil 
administration  of  the  Government ;  using  the  word 
civil  as  including  all  that  was  necessary  for  the 
maintenance  of  order,  the  preservation  of  liberty, 
the  organization  of  the  armies,  the  obtaining  and 
furnishing  of  the  munitions  of  war,  and  the  main 
tenance  of  the  troops  in  the  field.  No  one  has  ever 
doubted  that  Mr.  Davis  was  in  fact  the  President, 


390  REMINISCENCES  OF  JEFFERSON  DAVIS. 

and  that  as  President,  he  was  Commander-in-chief. 
The  charge  made  most  often  against  him  is,  that  his 
imperious  will  and  his  obstinate  and  unyielding  dis 
position  and  his  inflexible  purpose  made  him  too 
much  the  Commander-in-chief,  and  hampered  with 
unnecessary,  if  not  improper  restrictions  the  com 
manding  generals  in  the  field;  but,  taken  as  a 
whole,  when  the  contrast  between  the  two  combat 
ants  in  that  great  struggle  is  accurately  drawn,  the 
world  will  assign  to  Mr.  Davis  a  position  which  has 
not  yet  been  accorded  to  him. 

There  never  was  a  more  unequal  contest.  The 
South  fought  at  every  disadvantage.  Its  white  pop 
ulation  was  about  five  and  a  half  millions.  Its 
arms-bearing  population  was  less  than  nine  hundred 
thousand,  and  the  populous  and  powerful  States  of 
Maryland,  Mississippi,  Tennessee,  Kentucky  and 
Virginia  were  divided  with  perhaps  the  larger  part 
of  their  population  against  the  South.  It  did  not 
have  a  regular  military  organization  nor  a  regular 
soldier ;  it  was  without  even  the  form  and  semblance 
of  an  army ;  without  a  ship  of  war,  or  a  navy  yard 
in  which  a  ship  could  be  made  ;  it  had  but  few  guns, 
and  those  of  antique  patterns,  inferior,  and  many 
practically  useless ;  it  had  not  a  manufactory  in  all 
its  limits  where  any  part  of  a  gun  or  any  part  of  its 
munitions  could  be  made ;  it  was  without  money  or 
organized  credit ;  before  it  had  fairly  organized  its 


JEFFERSON  DAVIS.  391 

Government,  its  ports  were  blockaded  with  a  rigor 
ous  and  effectual  blockade,  so  that  the  markets  of 
the  world  were  absolutely  shut  to  it ;  and  it  had  no 
medicines  for  its  sick,  no  means  of  obtaining  the 
simplest  necessaries  of  a  hospital,  no  factories  at 
which  the  clothing  or  blankets  of  the  soldiers  could 
be  fabricated,  and  no  means  by  which  the  machinery 
necessary  for  the  establishment  of  such  factories 
could  be  obtained.  Under  Mr.  Davis  the  armies 
were  organized,  and  in  those  armies  were  more 
soldiers  than  the  white  arms-bearing  population  liv 
ing  within  the  military  lines  of  the  Confederacy. 
In  some  way  under  his  administration  these  soldiers 
were  admirably  armed,  fairly  supplied  with  a  fair 
quality  of  the  necessary  munitions  of  war;  were 
clad,  not  sufficiently,  but  so  as  to  be  protected  from 
the  severer  weather ;  and  fed,  not  amply,  but  so  as 
to  fit  them  for  the  most  fatiguing  marches  and 
glorious  victories.  Out  of  mere  debris  thrown  away 
as  useless,  the  Merrimac  was  made,  and  naval  war 
fare  entirely  revolutionized.  Hospitals  were  sup 
plied,  true,  with  sad  insufficiency,  but  yet  so  as  that 
the  wounded  found  careful  nursing  and  the  sick  had 
their  pains  alleviated.  Civil  government  was  pre 
served  and  public  order  was  maintained;  and  the 
usual  machinery  of  republican  institutions  never  for 
a  moment  interfered  with.  Enormous  sums  of 
money  were  raised,  and  apparently  from  nothing; 


392  REMINISCENCES  OF  JEFFERSON  DAVIS. 

credit  was  organized  so  as  to  keep  in  the  field  these 
troops  and  to  put  on  the  seas  cruisers  sufficient  in 
number  to  make  the  commerce  of  the  country  flee 
before  them. 

I  am  not  now  attempting  to  describe  the  military 
operations  which  were  conducted  under  his  orders, 
but  to  call  attention  to  the  obscurer  but  vital  duties 
which  were  performed  by  him  or  under  his  order, 
and  which  have  not  received  the  attention  and  the 
commendation  which  they  deserve. 

My  personal  acquaintance  with  Mr.  Davis  was  too 
slight  for  me  to  attempt  to  describe  him  in  the  pri 
vate  relations  of  life,  but  those  who  came  in  contact 
with  him  even  for  a  moment  could  not  fail  to  be 
struck  with  the  mingled  gentleness  and  dignity 
which  characterized  him ;  the  patience  with  which 
he  listened  until  patience  ceased  to  be  a  virtue,  and 
then  the  dignity  with  which  he  could  assert  his 
power.  On  the  march  from  Greensborough  to 
Washington  there  was  an  unfailing  courtesy  which 
rendered  the  approach  of  any  private  pleasant  and 
easy ;  a  kindly  deference  to  those  with  whom  he 
happened  to  be  thrown,  and  a  gentle  dignity  which 
prevented  any  undue  familiarity. 

For  twenty-five  years  he  has  been  the  representa 
tive  of  the  disasters,  the  destroyed  hopes,  and  the 
sorrows  of  that  great  struggle.  All  who  participated 
in  it  felt  that  he  had  borne  the  odium  of  our  acts, 


c  _» 


JEFFERSON  DA  Via  393 

and  been  made  the  vicarious  sacrifice  for  us.  During 
those  years  he  has  kept  with  unimpaired  fidelity  and 
unfailing  dignity  the  central  conception  of  that  great 
movement — that  the  States  which  composed  the 
Federal  Union  did  have  such  duties  to  their  citizens 
as  to  render  it  proper  under  proper  circumstances  to 
assert  for  those  citizens  the  liberties  which  they  in 
herited  ;  that  there  existed  no  power  under  any  con 
stitution,  nor  under  any  form  of  government,  to  take 
from  the  citizens  of  any  State  or  section  those  liber 
ties  which  are  above  constitutions,  and  to  protect 
which  governments  are  formed.  He  never,  either  in 
his  own  name  or  as  the  representative  of  his  fol 
lowers,  gave  any  utterance  to  the  possibility  of  a 
renewal  of  that  struggle ;  no  one  more  fully  recog 
nized  than  he  that  the  defeat  of  that  Confederacy 
was  final  and  conclusive,  and  that  whatever  there 
was  of  value  in  liberty  must  be  preserved  within  the 
Union  and  under  the  present  Constitution.  But  his 
very  life  was  a  protest  against  the  tendency  to 
centralization.  He  stood,  if  nothing  more,  as  a 
monument  to  the  ancient  construction  of  the  Consti 
tution  which  the  fathers  believed  was  that  which 
gave  hope  to  the  permanency  of  free  institutions ; 
and  so  long  as  the  rising  generation  could  hear  his 
name,  it  caused  a  pause  and  created  the  interroga 
tory  as  to  whether  a  Eepublic  of  States  can  be  pre 
served  by  centralization. 


394  REMINISCENCES  OF  JEFFERSON  DAVIS. 

Near  in  time  and  near  in  locality  were  Abraham 
Lincoln  and  Jefferson  Davis  born ;  each  loved  liberty 
with  a  boundless  devotion;  one  felt  that  constitu 
tional  liberty  could  be  preserved  only  by  a  strict 

adherence  to  constitutional  duties,  by  the  preserva- 

• 

tion  of  the  autonomy  of  the  States,  and  the  rigorous 
restriction  of  the  powers  of  the  general  government 
within  the  limits  of  the  warrant  which  gave  it  any 
rights  at  all ;  the  other  felt  called  upon  to  give  his 
life  to  the  preservation  of  the  territorial  union  based 
upon  the  universal  enfranchisement  of  the  individual 
citizen.  It  may  be  that  the  generations  which  follow 
us  will  conclude  that  true  liberty  needs  all,  the  uni 
versal  enfranchisement  of  the  citizens,  the  territorial 
union  which  gives  an  arena  for  a  great  nation,  and 
yet  the  autonomy  of  the  States  and  the  strict  limita 
tions  of  the  Constitution. 


APPENDIX 


APPENDIX. 


ROBERT  E.  LEE* 

BY  JEFFERSON   DAVIS. 

ROBERT  EDWARD  LEE,  gentleman,  scholar,  gallant 
soldier,  great  soldier,  and  true  Christian,  was  born  in 
Westmoreland    County,   Va.,  on   January    19,    1807. 
He  was  the  youngest  son  of  General  Henry  Lee,  who  was 
familiarly  known  as  "  Light-Horse  Harry,"  in  the  traditions 
of  the  war  of  the  Revolution,  and  who  possessed  the  marked 
confidence  and  personal  regard  of  General  Washington. 

R.  E.  Lee  entered  the  United  States  Military  Academy  in 
the  summer  of  1825,  after  which  my  acquaintance  with  him 
commenced.  He  was,  as  I  remember  him,  larger  and  looked 
more  mature  than  the  average  "pleb,"  but  less  so  than 
Mason,  who  was  destined  to  be  the  head  of  his  class.  His 
soldierly  bearing  and  excellent  conduct  caused  him,  in  due 
succession,  to  rise  through  the  several  grades  and  to  be  the 
adjutant  of  the  corps  of  cadets  when  he  graduated.  It  is 
stated  that  he  had  not  then  a  "  demerit "  mark  standing 
against  him,  which  is  quite  creditable  if  all  "  reports  "  against 
him  had  been  cancelled  because  they  were  not  for  wanton  or 
intentional  delinquency.  Though  numerically  rated  second 
in  his  class,  his  proficiency  was  such  that  he  was  assigned  to 

*  From  North  American  Review. 

397 


398  APPENDIX. 

the  engineer  corps,  which  for  many  years  he  adorned  both  as 
a  military  and  civil  engineer. 

He  was  of  the  highest  type  of  manly  beauty,  yet  seem 
ingly  unconscious  of  it,  and  so  respectful  and  unassuming  as 
to  make  him  a  general  favorite  before  his  great  powers  had 
an  opportunity  for  manifestation.  His  mind  led  him  to  ana 
lytic  rather  than  perceptive  methods  of  obtaining  results. 

From  the  date  of  his  graduation,  in  1829,  until  1846  he 
was  engaged  in  various  professional  duties,  and  had  by  regu 
lar  promotion  attained  to  the  grade  of  captain  of  engineers. 
As  such  he  was  assigned  to  duty  with  the  command  of  Brig- 
dier-General  Wool  in  the  campaign  of  Chihuahua.  Thence 
the  command  proceeded  to  make  a  junction  with  General  Z. 
Taylor  in  front  of  Buena  Vista.  Here  Captain  Lee  was 
employed  in  the  construction  of  the  defensive  work,  when 
General  Scott  came,  armed  with  discretionary  orders,  and 
took  Lee  for  service  in  the  column  which  Scott  was  to  com 
mand,  with  much  else  that  General  Taylor  could  ill  afford 
to  spare.  Subsequent  events  proved  that  the  loss  to  General 
Taylor's  army  was  more  than  compensated  by  the  gain  to  the 
general  cause. 

Avoiding  any  encroachment  upon  the  domain  of  history  in 
entering  upon  a  description  of  campaigns  and  battles,  I  can 
not  forbear  from  referring  to  a  particular  instance  of  Lee's 
gallantry  and  devotion  to  duty.  Before  the  battle  of  Con- 
treras,  General  Scott's  troops  had  become  separated  by  the 
field  of  Pedrigal,  and  it  was  necessary  to  communicate  in 
structions  to  those  on  the  other  side  of  this  barrier  of  rocks 
and  lava.  General  Scott  says  in  his  report  that  he  had  sent 
seven  officers  since  about  sundown  to  communicate  instruc 
tions  j  they  had  all  returned  without  getting  through,  "  but 


EGBERT  E.  LEE.  399 

the  gallant  and  indefatigable  Captain  Lee,  of  the  engineers, 
who  has  been  constantly  with  the  operating  forces,  is  just  in 
from  Shields,  Smith,  Cadwallader,"  etc.  Subsequently  Gen 
eral  Scott  while  giving  testimony  before  a  court  of  inquiry 
said :  "  Captain  Lee,  engineer,  came  to  me  from  Contreras 
with  a  message  from  Brigadier-General  Smith,  I  think,  about 
the  same  time  (midnight),  he  having  passed  over  the  difficult 
ground  by  daylight  found  it  just  possible  to  return  to  St. 
Augustine  in  the  dark — the  greatest  feat  of  physical  and 
moral  courage  performed  by  any  individual,  in  my  knowl 
edge,  pending  the  campaign." 

This  field  of  Pedrigal  as  described  was  impassable  on 
horseback  and  crossed  with  much  difficulty  by  infantry  in 
daylight.  After  consultation  with  the  generals  near  to  Con 
treras,  it  being  decided  that  an  attack  must  be  made  at  day 
light,  Captain  Lee,  through  storm  and  darkness,  undertook, 
on  foot  and  alone,  to  recross  the  Pedrigal,  so  as  to  give 
General  Scott  the  notice  which  would  insure  the  co-operation 
of  his  divided  forces  in  the  morning's  attack.  This  feat  was 
well  entitled  to  the  commendation  that  General  Scott  be 
stowed  upon  it;  but  the  highest  praise  belongs  to  Lee's 
inciting  and  sustaining  motive,  duty.  To  bear  to  the  com 
manding  general  the  needful  information,  he  dared  and 
suffered  for  that  which  is  the  crowning  glory  of  man  :  he 
offered  himself  for  the  welfare  of  others. 

He  went  to  Mexico  with  the  rank  of  captain  of  engineers, 
and  by  gallantry  and  meritorious  conduct  rose  to  the  rank  of 
colonel  in  the  army,  commission  by  brevet.  After  his  return 
he  resumed  his  duties  as  an  officer  of  the  engineer  corps. 
While  employed  in  the  construction  of  Fort  Carroll,  near 
Baltimore,  an  event  occurred  which  illustrates  his  nice  senti- 


400  APPENDIX. 

ment  of  honor.  Some  members  of  the  Cuban  Junta  called 
upon  him  and  offered  him  the  command  of  an  expedition  to 
overthrow  the  Spanish  control  of  the  island.  A  very  large 
sum  of  money  was  to  be  paid  immediately  upon  his  accept 
ance  of  their  proposition,  and  a  large  sum  thenceforward  was 
to  be  paid  monthly.  Lee  came  to  Washington  to  converse 
with  me  upon  the  subject.  After  a  brief  discussion  of  the 
military  problem  he  said  it  was  not  that  he  had  come  to  con 
sult  me  about ;  the  question  he  was  considering  was  whether, 
while  an  officer  in  the  United  army  and  because  of  any  repu 
tation  he  might  have  acquired  as  such,  he  could  accept  a  pro 
position  for  foreign  service  against  a  Government  with  which 
the  United  States  were  at  peace.  The  conclusion  was  his  de 
cision  to  decline  any  further  correspondence  with  the  Junta. 

In  1852  Colonel  Lee  was  made  superintendent  of  the 
United  States  Military  Academy,  a  position  for  which  he 
seemed  to  be  peculiarly  fitted,  as  well  by  his  attainments  as 
by  his  fondness  for  young  people,  his  fine  personal  appear 
ance,  and  impressive  manners.  When  a  year  or  two  there 
after  I  visited  the  academy,  and  was  surprised  to  see  so  many 
grey  hairs  on  his  head,  he  confessed  that  the  cadets  did  ex 
ceedingly  worry  him,  and  then  it  was  perceptible  that  his 
sympathy  with  young  people  was  rather  an  impediment  than 
a  qualification  for  the  superintendency. 

In  1855  four  new  regiments  were  added  to  the  army — two 
of  cavalry  and  two  of  infantry.  Captain  Lee,  of  the  engin 
eers,  brevet-colonel  of  the  army,  was  offered  the  position  of 
lieutenant-colonel  of  the  Second  regiment  of  cavalry,  which 
he  accepted.  He  was  a  bold,  graceful  horseman,  and  the  son 
of  Light-Horse  Harry  now  seemed  to  be  in  his  proper  ele 
ment  ;  but  the  chief  of  engineers  endeavored  to  persuade  him 


KOBEKT  E.  LEE.  401 

that  it  was  a  descent  to  go  from  the  engineer  corps  into  the 
cavalry.  Soon  after  the  regiment  was  organized  and  assigned 
to  duty  in  Texas ;  the  colonel,  Albert  Sidney  Johnston,  was 
selected  to  command  an  expedition  to  Utah,  and  the  com 
mand  of  the  regiment  and  the  protection  of  the  frontier  of 
Texas  against  Indian  marauders  devolved  upon  Colonel  Lee. 
There,  as  in  every  position  he  had  occupied,  diligence,  sound 
judgment  and  soldierly  endowment  made  his  service  success 
ful.  In  1859,  being  on  leave  of  absence  in  Virginia,  he  was 
made  available  for  the  suppression  of  the  John  Brown  raid. 
As  soon  as  relieved  from  that  special  assignment  he  returned 
to  his  command  in  Texas,  and  on  April  25,  1861,  resigned 
from  the  United  States  army. 

Then  was  his  devotion  to  principle  subjected  to  a  crucial 
test,  the  severity  of  which  can  only  be  fully  realized  by  a 
"  West-Pointer "  whose  life  has  been  spent  in  the  army. 
That  it  was  to  sever  the  friendships  of  youth,  to  break  up  the 
habits  of  intercourse,  of  manners,  and  of  thought,  others  may 
comprehend  and  estimate ;  but  the  sentiment  most  profound 
in  the  heart  of  the  war-worn  cadet,  and  which  made  the 
change  most  painful  to  Lee,  he  has  partially  expressed  in  the 
letters  he  wrote  at  the  time  to  his  beloved  sister,  and  to  his 
venerated  friend  and  commander,  General  Winfield  Scott. 

Partisan  malignants  have  not  failed  to  misrepresent  the 
conduct  of  Lee,  even  to  the  extent  of  charging  him  with 
treason  and  desertion ;  and,  unable  to  appreciate  his  sacri 
fice  to  the  allegiance  due  to  Virginia,  they  have  blindly  as 
cribed  his  action  to  selfish  ambition.  It  has  been  erroneously 
asserted  that  he  was  educated  at  the  expense  of  the  General 
Government,  and  an  attempt  has  been  made  then  to  deduce  a 
special  obligation  to  adhere  to  it. 
26 


402  APPENDIX. 

The  cadets  of  the  United  States  Military  Academy  are  ap 
portioned  among  the  States  in  proportion  to  the  number  of 
representatives  they  severally  have  in  the  Congress  ;  that  is, 
one  for  each  congressional  district,  with  ten  additional  for  the 
country  at  large.  The  annual  appropriations  for  the  support 
of  the  army  and  navy  include  the  commissioned,  warrant, 
and  non-commissioned  officers,  privates,  seamen,  etc.,  etc. 
The  cadets  and  midshipmen  are  warrant  officers,  and  while  at 
the  academies  are  receiving  elementary  instruction  in  and  for 
the  public  service.  At  whose  expense  are  they  taught  and 
supported  ?  Surely  at  that  of  the  people — they  who  pay  the 
taxes  and  imposts  to  supply  the  Treasury  with  means  to  meet 
appropriations  as  well  as  to  pay  generals  and  admirals  as  cadets 
and  midshipmen.  The  cadet's  obligation  for  his  place  and 
support  was  to  the  State,  by  virtue  of  whose  distributive  share 
he  was  appointed,  and  whose  contributions  supplied  the 
United  States  Treasury ;  through  the  State,  as  a  member  of 
the  Union,  allegiance  was  due  to  it,  and  most  usefully  and 
nobly  did  Lee  pay  the  debt  both  at  home  and  abroad. 

No  proposition  could  be  more  absurd  than  that  he  was 
prompted  by  selfish  ambition  to  join  the  Confederacy.  With 
a  small  part  of  his  knowledge  of  the  relative  amount  of 
material  of  war  possessed  by  the  North  and  South,  any  one 
must  have  seen  that  the  chances  of  war  were  against  us ;  but 
if  thrice-armed  Justice  should  enable  the  South  to  maintain 
her  independence,  as  our  fathers  had  done,  notwithstanding 
the  unequal  contest,  what  selfish  advantage  could  it  bring 
Lee  ?  If,  as  some  among  us  yet  expected,  many  hoped,  and 
all  wished,  there  should  be  a  peaceful  separation,  he  would 
have  left  behind  him  all  he  had  gained  by  long  and  brilliant 
service,  and  could  not  have  in  our  small  army  greater  rank 


ROBERT  E.  LEE.  403 

than  was  proffered  to  him  in  the  larger  one  he  had  left.  If 
active  hostilities  were  prosecuted,  his  large  property  would  be 
so  exposed  as  to  incur  serious  injury,  if  not  destruction.  His 
mother,  Virginia,  had  revoked  the  grants  she  had  voluntarily 
made  to  the  Federal  Government,  and  asserted  the  State 
sovereignty  and  independence  he  had  won  from  the  mother- 
country  by  the  war  of  the  Revolution ;  and  thus  it  was  re 
garded,  the  allegiance  of  her  sons  became  wholly  her  own. 
Above  the  voice  of  his  friends  at  "Washington,  advising  and 
entreating  him  to  stay  with  them,  rose  the  cry  of  Virginia 
calling  her  sons  to  defend  her  against  threatened  invasion. 
Lee  heeded  this  cry  only ;  alone  he  rode  forth,  as  he  had 
crossed  the  Pedrigal,  his  guiding  star  being  duty,  and  offered 
his  sword  to  Virginia.  His  offer  was  accepted,  and  he  was 
appointed  to  the  chief  command  of  the  forces  of  the  State. 
Though  his  reception  was  most  flattering  and  the  confidence 
manifested  in  him  unlimited,  his  conduct  was  conspicuous 
for  the  modesty  and  moderation  which  had  always  been  char 
acteristic  of  him. 

The  South  had  been  involved  in  war  without  having  made 
due  preparation  for  it.  She  was  without  a  navy,  without 
even  a  merchant  marine  commensurate  with  her  wants  during 
peace ;  without  arsenals,  armories,  foundries,  manufactories, 
or  stores  on  hand  to  supply  those  wants.  Lee  exerted  him 
self  to  the  utmost  to  raise  and  organize  troops  in  Virginia ; 
and  when  the  State  joined  the  confederacy  he  was  invited  to 
come  to  Montgomery  and  explain  the  condition  of  his  com 
mand  ;  but  his  engagements  were  so  pressing  that  he  sent  his 
second  officer,  General  J.  E.  Johnston,  to  furnish  the  desired 
information. 

When  the  capital  of  the  Confederacy  was  removed  from- 


404  APPENDIX. 

Montgomery  to  Richmond  Lee,  under  the  orders  of  the 
President,  was  charged  with  the  general  direction  of  army 
affairs.  In  this  position  the  same  pleasant  relations  which 
had  always  existed  between  them  continued,  and  Lee's  inde 
fatigable  attention  to  the  details  of  the  various  commands 
was  of  much  benefit  to  the  public  service.  In  the  mean  time 
disaster,  confusion  and  disagreement  among  the  commanders 
in  western  Virginia  made  it  necessary  to  send  there  an  officer 
of  higher  rank  than  any  then  on  duty  in  that  section.  The 
service  was  disagreeable,  toilsome,  and  in  no  wise  promising 
to  give  distinction  to  a  commander.  Passing  by  all  reference 
to  others,  suffice  it  to  say  that  at  last  Lee  was  asked  to  go, 
and,  not  counting  the  cost,  he  unhesitatingly  prepared  to 
start.  By  concentrating  the  troops,  and  by  a  judicious  selec 
tion  of  the  position,  he  compelled  the  enemy  finally  to 
retreat. 

There  is  an  incident  in  this  campaign  which  has  never 
been  reported,  save  as  it  was  orally  given  to  me  by  General 
Lee,  with  a  request  that  I  should  take  no  official  notice  of  it. 
A  strong  division  of  the  enemy  was  reported  to  be  encamped 
in  a  valley  which,  one  of  the  colonels  said  he  had  found  by 
reconnoissance  could  readily  be  approached  on  one  side,  and 
he  proposed  with  his  regiment  to  surprise  and  attack.  Gen 
eral  Lee  accepted  his  proposition,  but  told  him  that  he  him 
self  would,  in  the  mean  time,  with  several  regiments,  ascend 
the  mountain  that  overlooked  the  valley  on  the  other  side , 
and  at  dawn  of  day  on  a  morning  fixed  the  colonel  was  to 
make  his  assault.  His  firing  was  to  be  the  signal  for  a  joint 
attack  from  three  directions.  During  the  night  Lee  made  a 
toilsome  ascent  of  the  mountain  and  was  in  position  at  the 
time  agreed  upon.  The  valley  was  covered  by  a  dense  fog. 


KOBEKT  E.  LEE.  406 

Not  hearing  the  signal  he  went  by  a  winding  path  down  the 
side  of  the  mountain  and  saw  the  enemy  preparing  breakfast 
and  otherwise  so  engaged  as  to  indicate  that  they  were  en 
tirely  ignorant  of  any  danger.  Lee  returned  to  his  own 
command,  told  them  what  he  had  seen,  and,  though  the 
expected  signal  had  not  been  given  by  which  the  attacking 
regiment  and  another  detachment  were  to  engage  in  the  as 
sault,  he  proposed  that  the  regiments  then  with  him  should 
surprise  the  camp,  which  he  believed,  under  the  circum 
stances,  might  successfully  be  done.  The  colonels  went  to 
consult  their  men  and  returned  to  inform  him  that  they  were 
so  cold,  wet  and  hungry  as  to  be  unfit  for  the  enterprise. 
The  fog  was  then  lifting,  and  it  was  necessary  to  attack 
immediately  or  to  withdraw  before  being  discovered  by  the 
much  larger  force  in  the  valley.  Lee  therefore  withdrew  his 
small  command  and  safely  conducted  them  to  his  encamp 
ment. 

The  colonel  who  was  to  give  the  signal  for  the  joint  attack, 
misapprehending  the  purpose,  reported  that  when  he  arrived 
upon  the  ground  he  found  the  encampment  protected  by  a 
heavy  abattis,  which  prevented  him  from  making  a  sudden 
charge,  as  he  had  expected,  not  understanding  that  if  he  had 
fired  his  guns  at  any  distance  he  would  have  secured  the  joint 
attack  of  the  other  detachments,  and  probably  brought  about 
an  entire  victory.  Lee  generously  forbore  to  exonerate 
himself  when  the  newspapers  in  Richmond  criticised  him 
severely,  one  denying  him  any  other  consideration  except 
that  which  he  enjoyed  as  "the  President's  pet." 

It  was  an  embarrassment  to  the  Executive  to  be  de 
prived  of  the  advice  of  General  Lee,  but  it  was  deemed 
necessary  again  to  detach  him  to  look  after  affairs  on  the 


406  APPENDIX. 

coast  of  Carolina  and  Georgia,  and  so  violent  had  been  the 
unmerited  attacks  upon  him  by  the  Richmond  press  that 
it  was  thought  proper  to  give  him  a  letter  to  the  Governor 
of  South  Carolina,  stating  what  manner  of  man  had  been 
sent  to  him.  There  his  skill  as  an  engineer  was  manifested 
in  the  defences  he  constructed  and  devised.  On  his  re 
turn  to  Richmond  he  resumed  his  functions  of  general 
supervisor  of  military  affairs. 

In  the  spring  of  1862  Bishop  Meade  lay  dangerously 
ill.  This  venerable  ecclesiastic  had  taught  General  Lee  his 
catechism  when  a  boy,  and  when  he  was  announced  to  the 
Bishop  the  latter  asked  to  have  him  shown  in  immediately. 
He  answered  to  Lee's  inquiry  as  to  how  he  felt  by  say 
ing  :  "  Nearly  gone,  but  I  wished  to  see  you  once  more ; " 
and  then  in  a  feeble  voice  added :  "  God  bless  you,  Robert, 
and  fit  you  for  your  high  and  responsible  duties ! "  The 
great  soldier  stood  reverently  by  the  bed  of  his  early  pre 
ceptor  in  Christianity,  but  the  saintly  patriot  saw  beyond 
the  hero  the  pious  boy  to  whom  he  had  taught  the  cate 
chism;  first  he  gave  his  dying  blessing  to  Robert,  and 
then,  struggling  against  exhaustion,  invoked  Heaven's  guid 
ance  for  the  General. 

After  the  battle  of  Seven  Pines  Lee  was  assigned  to  the 
command  of  the  army  of  Virginia.  Thus  far  his  duties 
had  been  of  a  kind  to  confer  a  great  benefit,  but  to  be  un 
seen  and  unappreciated  by  the  public.  Now  he  had  an  op 
portunity  for  the  employment  of  his  remarkable  power  of 
generalization  while  attending  to  the  minutest  details.  The 
public  saw  manifestation  of  the  first,  but  could  not  estimate 
the  extent  to  which  the  great  results  achieved  were  due  to  the 
exact  order,  systematic  economy,  and  regularity  begotten  of 


KOBEKT  E.  LEE.  407 

his  personal  attention  to  the  proper  adjustment  of  even  the 
smallest  part  of  that  mighty  machine,  a  well-organized,  disci 
plined  army.  His  early  instructor,  in  a  published  letter, 
seemed  to  regard  the  boy's  labor  of  finishing  a  drawing  on  a 
slate  as  an  excess  of  care.  Was  it  so  ?  No  doubt,  so  far 
as  the  particular  task  was  concerned  ;  but  this  seedling  is  to 
be  judged  by  the  fruit  the  tree  bore.  That  little  drawing  on 
the  slate  was  the  prototype  of  the  exact  investigations  which 
crowned  with  success  his  labors  as  a  civil  and  military  engin 
eer,  as  well  as  a  commander  of  the  armies.  May  it  not  have 
been,  not  only  by  endowment  but  also  from  these  early  efforts, 
that  his  mind  became  so  rounded,  systematic,  and  complete 
that  his  notes,  written  on  the  battle-field  and  in  the  saddle, 
had  the  precision  of  form  and  lucidity  of  expression  found  in 
those  written  in  the  quiet  of  his  tent.  These  incidents  are  re 
lated,  not  because  of  their  intrinsic  importance,  but  as  pre 
senting  an  example  for  the  emulation  of  youths  whose  admi 
ration  of  Lee  may  induce  them  to  follow  the  toilsome  methods 
by  which  he  attained  to  true  greatness  and  enduring  fame. 

In  the  early  days  of  June,  1862,  General  McClelland 
threatened  the  capital,  Richmond,  with  an  army  numerically 
much  superior  to  that  to  the  command  of  which  Lee  had  been 
assigned.  A  day  or  two  after  he  had  joined  the  army,  I  was 
riding  to  the  front  and  saw  a  number  of  horses  hitched  in 
front  of  a  house,  and  among  them  recognized  General  Lee's. 
Upon  dismounting  and  going  in  I  found  some  general  officers 
engaged  in  consultation  with  him  as  to  how  McClelland's  ad 
vance  could  be  checked,  and  one  of  them  commenced  to  ex 
plain  the  disparity  of  force,  and  with  pencil  and  paper 
to  show  how  the  enemy  could  throw  out  his  boyaus  and  by 
successive  parallels  make  his  approach  irresistible.  "  Stop, 


408  APPENDIX. 

stop,"  said  Lee,  "  if  you  go  to  ciphering  we  are  whipped  be 
forehand/  He  ordered  the  construction  of  earthworks,  put 
guns  in  position  for  a  defensive  line  on  the  south  side  of  the 
Chickahominy,  and  then  commenced  the  strategic  movement 
which  was  the  inception  of  the  seven  days7  battles,  ending  in 
uncovering  the  capital  and  driving  the  enemy  to  the  cover  of 
the  gun  boats  in  the  James  river. 

There  never  was  a  greater  mistake  than  that  which  has 
attributed  to  General  Lee  what  General  Charles  Lee  in  his 
reply  to  General  Washington  called  the  "  rascally  virtue." 
I  have  had  occasion  to  remonstrate  with  General  Lee  for  ex 
posing  himself,  as  I  thought,  unnecessarily  in  reconnoissance, 
but  he  justified  himself  by  saying  he  "  could  not  understand 
things  so  well  unless  he  saw  them."  In  the  excitement  of 
battle  his  natural  combativeness  would  sometimes  overcome 
his  habitual  self-control ;  thus  it  twice  occurred  in  the  cam 
paign  against  Grant  that  the  men  seized  his  bridle  to  restrain 
him  from  his  purpose  to  lead  them  in  a  charge. 

He  was  always  careful  not  to  wound  the  sensibilities  of 
any  one,  and  sometimes  with  an  exterior  jest  or  compliment 
would  give  what,  if  properly  appreciated,  was  instruction  for 
the  better  performance  of  some  duty ;  for  example,  if  he 
thought  a  general  officer  was  not  visiting  his  command  as 
early  and  as  often  as  was  desirable  he  might  admire  his  horse 
and  suggest  that  the  animal  would  be  improved  by  more  ex 
ercise. 

He  was  not  of  the  grave,  formal  nature  that  he  seemed  to 
some  who  only  knew  him  when  sad  realities  cast  dark 
shadows  upon  him ;  but  even  then  the  humor  natural  to  him 
would  occasionally  break  out.  For  instance,  General  Lee 
called  at  my  office  for  a  ride  to  the  defence  of  Richmond, 


EGBERT   E.  LEE.  409 

then  under  construction.  He  was  mounted  on  a  stallion 
which  some  kind  friend  had  recently  sent  him.  As  I 
mounted  my  horse  his  was  restive  and  kicked  at  mine.  "We 
rode  on  quietly  together,  though  Lee  was  watchful  to  keep 
his  horse  in  order.  Passing  by  an  encampment  we  saw  near 
a  tent  two  stallions  tied  at  a  safe  distance  from  one  another. 
"There,"  said  he,  ilis  a  man  worse  off  than  I  am."  When 
asked  to  explain,  he  said :  "  Don't  you  see,  he  has  two  stal 
lions  ?  I  have  but  one." 

His  habits  had  always  been  rigidly  temperate,  and  his  fare 
in  camp  was  of  the  simplest.  I  remember  on  one  battle-field 
riding  past  where  he  and  his  staff  were  taking  their  luncheon. 
He  invited  me  to  share  it,  and  when  I  dismounted  for  the 
purpose  it  proved  to  have  consisted  only  of  bacon  and  corn- 
bread.  The  bacon  had  all  been  eaten,  and  there  were  only 
some  crusts  of  corn-bread  left,  which,  however,  having  been 
saturated  with  the  bacon  gravy,  were  in  those  hard  times 
altogether  acceptable,  as  General  Lee  was  assured  in  order  to 
silence  his  regrets. 

While  he  was  on  duty  in  South  Carolina  and  Georgia 
Lee's  youngest  son,  Robert,  then  a  mere  boy,  left  school  and 
came  down  to  Richmond,  announcing  his  purpose  to  go  into 
the  army.  His  older  brother,  Custis,  was  a  member  of  my 
staff,  and  after  a  conference  we  agreed  that  it  was  useless  to 
send  the  boy  back  to  school,  and  that  he  probably  would  not 
wait  in  Richmond  for  the  return  of  his  father ;  so  we  selected 
a  battery  which  had  been  organized  in  Richmond  and  sent 
Robert  to  join  it.  General  Lee  told  me  that  at  the  battle  of 
Sharpsburg  this  battery  suffered  so  much  that  it  had  to  be 
withdrawn  for  repairs  and  some  fresh  horses ;  but,  as  he  had 
no  troops  even  to  form  a  reserve,  as  soon  as  the  battery  could 


410  APPENDIX. 

be  made  useful  it  was  ordered  forward.  He  said  that  as  it 
passed  him  a  boy  mounted  as  a  driver  of  one  of  the  guns 
much  stained  with  powder,  said :  "  Are  you  going  to  put  us 
in  again,  general  ?  "  After  replying  to  him  in  the  affirma 
tive  he  was  struck  by  the  voice  of  the  boy  and  asked  him, 
"  Whose  son  are  you  ? "  To  which  he  answered,  "  I  am 
Robbie,"  whereupon  his  father  said :  "  God  bless  you,  my 
son,  you  must  go  in." 

When  General  Lee  was  in  camp  near  Richmond  his  friends 
frequently  sent  him  something  to  improve  his  mess-table.  A 
lady  noted  for  the  very  good  bread  she  made  had  frequently 
favored  him  with  some.  One  day,  as  we  were  riding  through 
the  street,  she  was  standing  in  her  front  door  and  bowed  to 
us.  The  salutation  was,  of  course,  returned.  After  we  had 
passed  he  asked  me  who  she  was.  I  told  him  she  was  the 
lady  who  sent  him  such  good  bread.  He  was  very  sorry  he 
had  not  known  it,  but  to  go  back  would  prove  that  he  had 
not  recognized  her  as  he  should  have  done.  His  habitual 
avoidance  of  any  seeming  harshness,  which  caused  him  some 
times,  instead  of  giving  a  command,  to  make  a  suggestion, 
was  probably  a  defect.  I  believe  that  he  had  in  this  manner 
indicated  that  supplies  were  to  be  deposited  for  him  at  Amelia 
Court-house,  but  the  testimony  of  General  Breckenridge, 
Secretary  of  War,  of  General  St.  John,  Commissary-General, 
and  Lewis  Harvie,  president  of  the  Richmond  and  Danville 
Railroad,  conclusively  proves  that  no  such  requisition  was 
made  upon  either  of  the  persons  who  should  have  received 
it ;  and,  further,  that  there  were  supplies  both  at  Danville 
and  Richmond  which  could  have  been  sent  to  Amelia  Court- 
House  if  information  had  been  received  that  they  were 
wanted  there. 


BOBEKT  E.  LEE.  411 

Much  has  been  written  in  regard  to  the  failure  to  occupy 
the  Eound  Top  at  Gettysburg  early  in  the  morning  of  the 
second  day's  battle,  to  which  failure  the  best  judgment  attri 
butes  our  want  of  entire  success  in  that  battle.  Whether  this 
was  due  to  the  order  not  being  sufficiently  positive  or  not,  I 
will  leave  to  the  historians  who  are  discussing  that  important 
event.  I  have  said  that  Lee's  natural  temper  was  combative, 
and  to  this  may  be  ascribed  his  attack  on  the  third  day  at 
Gettysburg,  when  the  opportunity  had  not  been  seized  which 
his  genius  saw  was  the  gate  to  victory.  It  was  this  last  at 
tack  to  which  I  have  thought  he  referred  when  he  said  it  was 
all  his  fault,  thereby  sparing  others  from  whatever  blame  was 
due  for  what  had  previously  occurred. 

After  the  close  of  the  war,  while  I  was  in  prison  and  Lee 
was  on  parole,  we  were  both  indicted  on  a  charge  of  treason ; 
but,  in  hot  haste  to  get  in  their  work,  the  indictment  was 
drawn  with  the  fatal  omission  of  an  overt  act.  General 
Grant  interposed  in  the  case  of  General  Lee,  on  the  ground 
that  he  had  taken  his  parole,  and  that  he  was,  therefore,  not 
subject  to  arrest.  Another  grand  jury  was  summoned,  and  a 
bill  was  presented  against  me  alone  and  amended  by  inserting 
specifications  of  overt  acts.  General  Lee  was  summoned  as  a 
witness  before  that  grand  jury,  the  object  being  to  prove  by 
him  that  I  was  responsible  for  certain  things  done  by  him 
during  the  war.  I  was  in  Richmond,  having  been  released 
by  virtue  of  the  writ  of  habeas  corpus.  General  Lee  met  me 
very  soon  after  having  given  his  testimony  before  the  grand 
jury,  and  told  me  that  to  the  inquiry  whether  he  had  not;  in 
the  specified  cases,  acted  under  my  orders,  he  said  that  he  had 
always  consulted  me  when  he  had  the  opportunity,  both  on 
the  field  and  elsewhere ;  that  after  discussion,  if  not  before, 
we  had  always  agreed,  and  therefore  he  had  done  with  my 


412  APPENDIX. 

consent  and  approval  only  what  he  might  have  done  if  he  had 
not  consulted  me,  and  that  he  accepted  the  full  responsi 
bility  for  his  acts.  He  said  he  had  endeavored  to  present 
the  matter  as  distinctly  as  he  could,  and  looked  up  to  see 
what  effect  he  was  producing  upon  the  grand  jury.  Im 
mediately  before  him  sat  a  big  black  negro,  whose  head 
had  fallen  back  on  the  rail  of  the  bench  he  sat  on;  his 
mouth  was  wide  open,  and  he  was  fast  asleep.  General 
Lee  pleasantly  added  that,  if  he  had  had  any  vanity  as  an 
orator,  it  would  have  received  a  rude  check. 

The  evident  purpose  was  to  offer  to  Lee  a  chance  to 
escape  by  transferring  to  me  the  responsibility  for  overt 
acts.  Not  only  to  repel  the  suggestion,  but  unequivocally 
to  avow  his  individual  responsibility,  with  all  that,  under 
existing  circumstances,  was  implied  in  this,  was  the  highest 
reach  of  moral  courage  and  gentlemanly  pride.  Those  cir 
cumstances  were  exceptionally  perilous  to  him.  He  had 
been  indicted  for  treason ;  the  United  States  President  had 
vindictively  threatened  to  make  treason  odious;  the  dregs 
of  society  had  been  thrown  to  the  surface ;  judicial  seats 
were  held  by  political  adventurers;  the  United  States  judge 
of  the  Virginia  district  had  answered  to  a  committee  of 
Congress  that  he  could  pack  a  jury  so  as  to  convict  Davis 
or  Lee — and  it  was  under  such  surroundings  that  he  met 
the  grand  jury  and  testified  as  stated  above.  Arbitrary 
power  might  pervert  justice  and  trample  on  right,  but  could 
not  turn  the  knightly  Lee  from  the  path  of  honor  and  truth. 

Descended  from  a  long  line  of  illustrious  warriors  and 
statesmen,  Robert  Edward  Lee  added  new  glory  to  the  name 
he  bore,  and,  whether  measured  by  a  martial  or  an  intellec 
tual  standard,  will  compare  favorably  with  those  whose  repu 
tation  it  devolved  upon  him  to  sustain  and  emulate. 


EXCHANGE   OF  PRISONERS. 

UNDER  a  Cabinet  consultation,  Mr.  Davis  accepted  the 
generous  offer  of  Mr.  Stephens,  who  wished  to  pro 
ceed  to  Washington  for  the  purpose  of  treating  with 
the  Federal  Government  on  the  subject  of  the  release  of  the 
prisoners,  by  seeking  to  reestablish  the  cartel  of  exchange 
on  a  fair  basis,  as  well  as  endeavoring  to  stay  the  barbarous 
and  cruel  acts  of  such  Federal  officers  as  Major-General  D. 
Hunter,  and  others,  in  their  useless  and  uncalled-for  treat 
ment  of  women,  children  and  non-combatants.     Mr.  Davis' 
commission  to  Mr.  Stephens  read  as  follows : 

RICHMOND,  July  2d,  1863. 
HON.  ALEXANDER  H.  STEPHENS,  Richmond,  Va. 

Sir: — Having  accepted  your  patriotic  offer  to  proceed,  as 
a  military  commissioner,  under  flag-of-truce,  to  Washington, 
you  will  herewith  receive  your  letter  of  authority  to  the 
Commander-in-Chief  of  the  Army  and  Navy  of  the  United 
States. 

This  letter  is  signed  by  me  as  Commander-in-Chief  of 
the  Confederate  land  and  naval  forces. 

You  will  perceive,  from  the  terms  of  the  letter,  that  it 
is  so  worded  as  to  avoid  any  political  difficulties  in  its 
reception.  Intended  exclusively  as  one  of  those  communica 
tions  between  belligerents  which  public  law  recognizes  as 
necessary  and  proper  between  hostile  forces,  care  has  been 
taken  to  give  no  pretext  for  refusing  to  receive  it  on 

413 


414  APPENDIX. 

the  ground  that  it  would  involve  a  tacit  recognition  of 
the  independence  of  the  Confederacy. 

Your  mission  is  simply  one  of  humanity,  and  has  no 
political  aspect. 

If  objection  is  made  to  receive  your  letter  on  the  ground 
that  it  is  not  addressed  to  Abraham  Lincoln  as  President, 
instead  of  Commander-in-Chief,  &c.,  then  you  will  present 
the  duplicate  letter,  which  is  addressed  to  him  as  President, 
and  signed  by  me  as  President.  To  this  letter,  objection 
may  be  made  on  the  ground  that  I  am  not  recognized  to  be 
President  of  the  Confederacy.  In  this  event,  you  will 
decline  any  further  attempt  to  confer  on  the  subject  of  your 
mission,  as  such  conference  is  admissible  only  on  a  footing 
of  perfect  equality. 

My  recent  interviews  with  you  have  put  you  so  fully  in 
possession  of  my  views,  that  it  is  scarcely  necessary  to  give 
you  any  detailed  instructions,  even  were  I  at  this  moment 
well  enough  to  attempt  it. 

My  whole  purpose  is,  in  one  word,  to  place  this  war  on 
the  footing  of  such  as  are  waged  by  civilized  people  in 
modern  times,  and  to  divest  it  of  the  savage  character  which 
has  been  impressed  on  it  by  our  enemies,  in  spite  of  all  our 
efforts  and  protests.  War  is  full  enough  of  unavoidable 
horrors,  under  all  its  aspects,  to  justify,  and  even  to  demand 
of  any  Christian  ruler,  who  may  be  unhappily  engaged  in 
carrying  it  on,  to  seek  to  restrict  its  calamities,  and  to  divest 
it  of  all  unnecessary  severities. 

You  will  endeavor  to  establish  the  cartel  for  the  exchange 
of  prisoners  on  such  a  basis  as  to  avoid  the  constant  diffi 
culties  and  complaints  which  arise,  and  to  prevent  for  the 
future  what  we  deem  the  unfair  conduct  of  our  enemies, 


EXCHANGE  OF  PKISONERS.  415 

in  evading  the  delivery  of  prisoners  who  fall  into  their 
hands,  in  retarding  it  by  sending  them  on  circuitous  routes, 
and  by  detaining  them  sometimes  for  months  in  camps  and 
prisons,  and  in  persisting  in  taking  captive  non-combatants. 

Your  attention  is  also  called  to  the  unheard-of  conduct 
of  Federal  officers  in  driving  from  their  homes  entire  com 
munities  of  women  and  children,  as  well  as  of  men,  whom 
they  find  in  districts  occupied  by  their  troops,  for  no  other 
reason  than  because  these  unfortunates  are  faithful  to  the 
allegiance  due  to  their  States,  and  refuse  to  take  aa  oath 
of  fidelity  to  their  enemies. 

The  putting  to  death  of  unarmed  prisoners  has  been  a 
ground  of  just  complaint  in  more  than  one  instance;  and 
the  recent  execution  of  officers  of  our  army  in  Kentucky, 
for  the  sole  cause  that  they  were  engaged  in  recruiting  ser 
vice  in  a  State  which  is  claimed  as,  still  one  of  the  United 
States,  but  is  also  claimed  by  us  as  one  of  the  Confederate 
States,  must  be  repressed  by  retaliation,  if  not  uncondition 
ally  abandoned,  because  it  would  justify  the  like  execution 
in  every  other  State  of  the  Confederacy ;  and  the  practice 
is  barbarous,  uselessly  cruel,  and  can  only  lead  to  the 
slaughter  of  prisoners  on  both  sides,  a  result  too  horrible 
to  contemplate  without  making  every  effort  to  avoid  it. 

On  this  and  all  kindred  subjects  you  will  consider  your 
authority  full  and  ample,  to  make  such  arrangements  as 
will  temper  the  present  cruel  character  of  the  contest ;  and 
full  confidence  is  placed  in  your  judgment,  patriotism,  and 
discretion,  that,  while  carrying  out  the  objects  of  your  mis 
sion,  you  will  take  care  that  the  equal  rights  of  the  Con 
federacy  be  always  preserved. 

Very  respectfully,     JEFFERSON  DAVIS. 


416  APPENDIX. 

LETTER  FROM  EX-PRESIDENT  DAVIS  TO  HON.  JAMES 
LYONS* 

NEW  ORLEANS,  January  27,  1876. 
HON.  JAMES  LYONS  : 

My  Dear  Friend: — Your  very  kind  letter  of  the  14th 
instant  was  forwarded  from  Memphis,  and  has  been  received 
at  this  place. 

I  have  been  so  long  the  object  of  malignant  slander  and 
the  subject  of  unscrupulous  falsehood  by  partisans  of  the 
class  of  Mr.  Elaine,  that,  though  I  cannot  say  it  has  become 
to  me  matter  of  indifference,  it  has  ceased  to  excite  my 
surprise,  even  in  this  instance,  when  it  reaches  the  extremity 
of  accusing  me  of  cruelty  to  prisoners.  What  matters  it 
to  one  whose  object  is  personal  and  party  advantage,  that 
the  records,  both  Federal  and  Confederate,  disprove  the 
charge ;  that  the  country  is  full  of  witnesses  who  bear  oral 
testimony  against  it,  and  that  the  effort  to  revive  the  bitter 
animosities  of  the  war  obstructs  the  progress  toward  the 
reconciliation  of  the  sections  ?  It  is  enough  for  him  if  his 
self-seeking  purpose  be  promoted. 

It  would,  however,  seem  probable  that  such  expectations 
must  be  disappointed,  for  only  those  who  are  wilfully  blind 
can  fail  to  see  in  the  circumstances  of  the  case  the  fallacy 
of  Mr.  Elaine's  statements.  The  published  fact  of  an 
attempt  to  suborn  Wirx,  when  under  sentence  of  death, 
by  promising  him  a  pardon  if  he  would  criminate  me  in 
regard  to  the  Andersonville  prisoners,  is  conclusive  as  to 
the  wish  of  the  Government  to  make  such  charge  against 
me,  and  the  failure  to  do  so  shows  that  nothing  could  be 
found  to  sustain  it.  May  we  not  say  the  evidence  of  my 
*  In  relation  to  the  treatment  of  the  Federal  prisoners  at  Andersonville. 


EXCHANGE  OF  PKISONEKS.  417 

innocence  was  such  that  Holt  and  Conover,  with  their 
trained  band  of  suborned  witnesses,  dared  not  make  against 
me  this  charge — the  same  which  Wirz,  for  his  life,  would 
not  make,  but  which  Elaine,  for  the  Presidential  nomination, 
has  made? 

Now  let  us  review  the  leading  facts  in  this  case.  The 
report  of  the  Confederate  commissioner  for  exchange  of 
prisoners  shows  how  persistent  and  liberal  were  our  efforts 
to  secure  the  relief  of  captives.  Failing  in  these  attempts, 
I  instructed  General  R.  E.  Lee  to  go  under  flag  of  truce 
and  seek  an  interview  with  General  Grant,  to  represent 
to  him  the  suffering  and  death  of  Federal  prisoners  held 
by  us,  to  explain  the  causes,  which  were  beyond  our  control, 
and  to  urge  in  the  name  of  humanity  the  observance  of  the 
cartel  for  the  exchange  of  prisoners.  To  this,  as  to  all  pre 
vious  appeals,  a  deaf  ear  was  turned.  The  interview  was  not 
granted.  I  will  not  attempt,  from  memory,  to  write  the 
details  of  the  correspondence.  Lee  no  longer  lives  to  defend 
the  cause  and  country  he  loved  so  well  and  served  so  effi 
ciently  ;  but  General  Grant  cannot  fail  to  remember  so 
extraordinary  a  proposition,  and  his  objections  to  executing 
the  cartel  are  well  known  to  the  public.  But  whoever 
else  may  choose  to  forget  my  efforts  in  this  regard,  the 
prisoners  at  Andersonville,  and  the  delegates  I  permitted 
them  to  send  to  President  Lincoln  to  plead  for  the  resump 
tion  of  exchange  of  prisoners,  cannot  fail  to  remember  how 
willing  I  was  to  restore  them  to  their  homes  and  to  the 
comforts  of  which  they  were  in  need,  provided  the  imprisoned 
soldiers  of  the  Confederacy  should  be  in  like  manner  re 
leased  and  returned  to  us. 

This  foul  accusation,  though  directed  specially  against 
27 


418  APPENDIX. 

me,  was  no  doubt  intended  as,  and  naturally  must  be,  the 
arraignment  of  the  South,  by  whose  authority  and  in  whose 
behalf  my  deeds  were  done.  It  may  be  presumed  that  the 
feelings  and  the  habits  of  the  Southern  soldiers  were  under 
stood  by  me,  and  in  that  connection  any  fair  mind  would 
perceive  in  my  congratulatory  orders  to  the  army  after  a 
victory,  in  which  the  troops  were  most  commended  for  their . 
tenderness  and  generosity  to  the  wounded  and  other  captives, 
as  well  the  instincts  of  the  person  who  issued  the  order 
as  the  knightly  temper  of  the  soldiers  to  whom  it  was 
addressed.  It  is  admitted  that  the  prisoners  in  our  hands 
were  not  as  well  provided  for  as  we  woukl,  but  it  is  claimed 
that  we  did  as  well  for  them  as  we  could.  Can  the  other 
side  say  as  much  ? 

To  the  bold  allegations  of  ill-treatment  of  prisoners  by 
our  side,  and  humane  treatment  and  adequate  supplies  by 
our  opponents,  it  is  only  necessary  to  offer  two  facts — first,  it 
appears  from  the  reports  of  the  United  States  War  Depart 
ment  that,  though  we  had  sixty  thousand  more  Federal 
prisoners  than  they  had  of  Confederates,  six  thousand  more 
of  Confederates  died  in  Northern  prisons  than  died  of  Fed 
erals  in  Southern  prisons ;  second,  the  want  and  suffering 
of  men  in  Northern  prisons  caused  me  to  ask  for  permission 
to  send  out  cotton  and  buy  supplies  for  them.  The  request 
was  granted,  but  only  on  condition  that  the  cotton  should 
be  sent  to  New  York  and  the  supplies  be  bought  there. 
General  Beale,  now  of  St.  Louis,  was  authorized  to  purchase 
and  distribute  the  needful  supplies. 

Our  sympathy  rose  with  the  occasion  and  responded  to 
its  demands — not  waiting  for  ten  years,  then  to  vaunt  itself 
when  it  could  serve  no  good  purpose  to  the  sufferers. 


EXCHANGE  OF  PRISONERS.  419 

Under  the  mellowing  influence  of  time  and  occasional 
demonstrations  at  the  North  of  a  desire  for  the  restoration 
of  peace  and  good-will,  the  Southern  people  have  forgotten 
much — have  forgiven  much,  of  the  wrongs  they  bore.  If  it 
be  less  so  among  their  invaders,  it  is  but  another  example 
of  the  rule  that  the  wrong-doer  is  less  able  to  forgive  than 
he  who  has  suffered  causeless  wrong.  It.  is  not,  however, 
generally  among  those  who  braved  the  hazards  of  battle 
that  unrelenting  vindictiveness  is  to  be  found.  The  brave 
are  generous  and  gentle.  It  is  the  skulkers  of  the  fight — 
the  Blaines — who  display  their  flags  on  an  untented  field. 
They  made  no  sacrifice  to  prevent  the  separation  of  the 
States.  Why  should  they  be  expected  to  promote  the  confi 
dence  and  good-will  essential  to  their  union  ? 

When  closely  confined  at  Fortress  Monroe,  I  was  solicited 
to  add  my  name  to  those  of  many  esteemed  gentlemen  who 
had  signed  a  petition  for  my  pardon,  and  an  assurance  was 
given  that  on  my  doing  so  the  President  would  order  my 
liberation.  Confident  of  the  justice  of  our  cause  and  the 
rectitude  of  my  own  conduct,  I  declined  to  sign  the  petition, 
and  remained  subject  to  the  inexcusable  privations  and 
tortures  which  Dr.  Craven  has  but  faintly  described.  When, 
after  two  years  of  close  confinement,  I  was  admitted  to  bail, 
as  often  as  required  I  appeared  for  trial  under  the  indict 
ment  found  against  me,  but  in  which  Mr.  Elaine's  fictions 
do  not  appear.  The  indictment  was  finally  quashed  on  an 
application  of  mine,  nor  have  I  ever  evaded  or  avoided  a 
trial  upon  any  charge  the  General  Government  might  choose 
to  bring  against  me,  and  have  no  view  of  the  future  which 
makes  it  desirable  to  me  to  be  included  in  a,n  amnesty  bill. 

Viewed  in  the  abstract  or  as  a  general  question,  I  would 


420  APPENDIX. 

be  glad  to  see  the  repeal  of  all  laws  inflicting  the  penalty 
of  political  disabilities  on  classes  of  the  people,  that  it  might, 
as  prescribed  by  the  Constitution,  be  left  to  the  courts  to 
hear  and  decide  causes,  and  to  affix  penalties  according  to 
pre-existing  legislation.  The  discrimination  made  against 
our  people  is  unjust  and  impolitic,  if  the  fact  be  equality  and 
the  purpose  be  fraternity  among  the  citizens  of  the  United 
States.  Conviction  and.  sentence  without  a  hearing,  without 
jurisdiction,  and  affixing  penalties  by  ex  post  facto  legislation, 
are  part  of  the  proceeding  which  had  its  appropriate  end  in 
the  assumption  by  Congress  of  the  executive  function  of 
granting  pardons.  To  remove  political  disabilities  which 
there  was  not  legal  power  to  impose,  was  not  an  act  of  so 
much  grace  as  to  form  a  plausible  pretext  for  the  reckless 
diatribe  of  Mr.  Elaine. 

The  papers  preserved  by  Dr.  Stevenson  happily  furnish 
full  proof  of  the  causes  of  disease  and  death  at  Anderson- 
ville.  They  are  now,  I  believe,  in  Richmond,  and  it  is  to  be 
hoped  their  publication  will  not  be  much  longer  delayed. 
I  have  no  taste  for  recrimination,  though  the  sad  recitals 
made  by  our  soldiers  returned  from  Northern  prisons  can 
never  be  forgotten.  And  you  will  remember  the  excitement 
those  produced,  and  the  censorious  publications  which  were 
uttered  against  me  because  I  would  not  visit  on  the  helpless 
prisoners  in  our  hands  such  barbarities  as,  according  to 
reports,  had  been  inflicted  upon  our  men. 

Imprisonment  is  a  hard  lot  at  the  best,  and  prisoners  are 
prone  to  exaggerate  their  sufferings,  and  such  was  probably 
the  case  on  both  sides.  But  we  did  not  seek  by  reports 
of  committees,  with  photographic  illustrations,  to  inflame  the 
passions  of  our  people.  How  was  it  with  our  enemy  ?  Let 


EXCHANGE  OF  PRISONERS.  421 

one  example  suffice.  You  may  remember  a  published  report 
of  a  committee  of  the  United  States  Congress  which  was 
sent  to  Annapolis  to  visit  some  exchanged  prisoners,  and 
which  had  appended  to  it  the  photographs  of  some  emaciated 
subjects,  which  were  offered  as  samples  of  prisoners  returned 
from  the  South. 

When  a  copy  of  that  report  was  received,  I  sent  it  to 
Colonel  Ould,  commissioner  for  the  exchange  of  prisoners, 
and  learned,  as  I  anticipated,  that  the  photographs,  as  far  as 
they  could  be  identified,  had  been  taken  from  men  who  were 
in  our  hospital  when  they  were  liberated  for  exchange,  and 
whom  the  hospital  surgeon  regarded  as  convalescent,  but  too 
weak  to  be  removed  with  safety  to  themselves.  The  anxiety 
of  the  prisoners  to  be  sent  to  their  homes  had  prevailed  over 
the  objections  of  the  surgeon.  But  this  is  not  all,  for  I  have 
recently  learned  from  a  priest  who  was  then  at  Annapolis, 
that  the  most  wretched-looking  of  these  photographs  was 
taken  from  a  man  who  had  never  been  a  prisoner,  but  who 
had  been  left  on  the  "sick  list"  at  Annapolis  when  the 
command  to  which  he  was  attached  had  passed  that  place  on 
its  southward  march. 

Whatever  may  be  said  in  extenuation  of  such  imposture 
because  of  the  exigencies  of  wTar,  there  can  be  no  such  excuse 
now  for  the  attempts  of  Mr.  Elaine,  by  gross  misrepresenta 
tion  and  slanderous  accusation,  to  revive  the  worst  passions 
of  the  war ;  and  it  is  to  be  hoped  that,  much  as  the  event  is 
to  be  regretted,  it  will  have  the  good  effect  of  evoking  truth 
ful  statements  in  regard  to  this  little-understood  subject, 
from  men  who  would  have  preferred  to  leave  their  sorrowful 
story  untold  if  the  subject  could  have  been  allowed  peacefully 
to  sink  into  oblivion. 


422  APPENDIX. 

Mutual  respect  is  needful  for  the  common  interest,  is 
essential  to  a  friendly  union ;  and  when  slander  is  promul 
gated  from  high  places,  the  public  welfare  demands  that 
truth  should  strip  falsehood  of  its  power  for  evil. 

I  am,  respectfully  and  truly,  your  friend, 
,  JEFFERSON  DAVIS. 

COMMENT  ON  MR.   DA  VIS'S  LETTER* 
In    an  editorial  in  his  paper,   the  New  York  Sun,  Mr. 
Dana,  after   speaking  of   the  bitterness  of  feeling  towards 
Mr.  Davis  at  the  North,  thus  comments  on  his  recent  letter 
to  Mr.  Lyons  : 

This  letter  shows  clearly,  we  think,  that  the  Confederate  autho 
rities,  and  especially  Mr.  Davis,  ought  not  to  be  held  responsi 
ble  for  the  terrible  privations,  sufferings  and  injuries  which  our 
men  had  to  endure  while  they  were  kept  in  the  Confederate 
military  prisons.  The  fact  is  unquestionable,  that  while  the 
Confederates  desired  to  exchange  prisoners,  to  send  our  men 
home  and  to  get  back  their  own,  General  Grant  steadily  and 
strenuously  resisted  such  an  exchange.  While,  in  his  opin 
ion,  the  prisoners  in  our  hands  were  well  fed,  and  were  in 
better  condition  than  when  they  were  captured,  our  prisoners 
in  the  South  were  ill-fed,  and  would  be  restored  to  us  too 
much  exhausted  by  famine  and  disease  to  form  a  fair  set-off 
against  the  comparatively  vigorous  men  who  would  be  given  in 
exchange.  "It  is  hard  on  our  men  held  in  Southern  pris 
ons,"  said  Grant,  in  an  official  communication,  "  not  to  ex 
change  them  ;  but  it  is  humane  to  those  left  in  the  ranks  to 
fight  our  battles.  If  we  commence  a  system  of  exchanges 
which  liberates  all  prisoners  taken,  we  will  have  to  fight  on 
*  By  Charles  B.  Dana,  formerly  U.  S.  Assistant  Secretary  of  War. 


EXCHANGE  OF  PRISONERS.  423 

until  the  whole  South  is  exterminated.  If  we  hold  those 
caught,  they  count  for  no  more  than  dead  men."  "  I  did 
nx>t,"  he  said,  on  another  occasion,  "deem  it  justifiable  or  just 
to  reinforce  the  enemy  ;  and  an  immediate  resumption  of  ex 
changes  would  have  had  that  effect,  without  any  correspond 
ing  benefit." 

This  evidence  must  be  taken  as  conclusive.  It  proves  that 
it  was  not  the  Confederate  authorities  who  insisted  on  keep 
ing  our  prisoners  in  distress,  want  and  disease,  but  the  com 
mander  of  our  own  armies.  We  do  not  say  that  his  reason 
for  this  course  was  not  valid ;  but  it  was  not  Jefferson  Davis, 
or  any  subordinate  or  associate  of  his,  who  should  now  be 
condemned  for  it.  We  were  responsible  ourselves  for  the 
continued  detention  of  our  captives  in  misery,  starvation  and 
sickness  in  the  South. 

Moreover,  there  is  no  evidence  whatever  tKat  it  was  prac 
ticable  for  the  Confederate  authorities  to  feed  our  prisoners 
any  better  than  they  were  fed,  or  to  give  them  better  care  and 
attention  than  they  received.  The  food  was  insufficient ;  the 
care  and  attention  were  insufficient,  no  doubt ;  and  yet  the 
condition  of  our  prisoners  was  not  worse  than  that  of  the  Con 
federate  soldiers  in  the  field,  except  in  so  far  as  the  condition 
of  those  in  prison  must  of  necessity  be  worse  than  that  of  men 
who  are  free  and  active  outside. 

Again,  in  reference  to  those  cases  of  extreme  suffering  and 
disease,  the  photographs  of  whose  victims  were  so  extensively 
circulated  among  us  toward  the  end  of  the  war,  Mr.  Davis 
makes,  it  seems  to  us,  a  good  answer.  Those  very  unfortu 
nate  men  were  not  taken  from  prisons,  but  from  Confederate 
hospitals,  where  they  had  received  the  same  medical  treatment 
as  was  given  to  sick  and  wounded  Confederate  soldiers.  The 


424  APPENDIX. 

fact  mentioned  by  Mr.  Davis,  that  while  they  had  60,000 
more  prisoners  of  ours  than  we  had  of  theirs,  the  number  of 
Confederates  who  died  in  our  prisons  exceeded  by  6000  the 
whole  number  of  Union  soldiers  who  died  in  Southern  pris 
ons,  though  not  entirely  conclusive,  since  our  men  were  gen 
erally  better  fed  and  in  better  health  than  theirs,  still  fur 
nishes  a  strong  support  to  the  position  that,  upon  the 
whole,  our  men  were  not  used  with  greater  severity  or  sub 
jected  to  greater  privations  than  were  inevitable  in  the  nature 
of  the  case.  Of  this  charge,  therefore,  of  cruelty  to  prisoners, 
so  often  brought  against  Mr.  Davis,  and  reiterated  by  Mr. 
Elaine  in  his  speech,  we  think  he  must  be  held  altogether 
acquitted. 

There  are  other  things  in  his  letter  not  essential  to  this 
question,  expressions  of  political  opinion  and  intimations  of 
views  upon  larger  subjects,  which  it  is  not  necessary  that  we 
should  discuss.  We  are  bound,  however,  to  say,  that  in  ele 
vation  of  spirit,  in  a  sincere  desire  for  the  total  restoration 
of  fraternal  feeling  and  unity  between  the  once  warring  parts 
of  the  Republic,  Mr.  Davis's  letter  is  infinitely  superior  and 
infinitely  more  creditable  to  him,  both  as  a  statesman  and  a 
man,  than  anything  that  has  recently  fallen  from  such  antag 
onists  and  critics  of  his  as  Mr.  Blaine. 


LORD  WOLSELEY'S  MISTAKES. 

BY  JEFFERSON  DAVIS. 
(North  American  Review.) 

ENERAL  WOLSELEY  having  criticised  the  Hon. 
Jefferson  Davis  in  one  of  his  articles,  it  seems  but 
fair  that  the  ex-President  of  the  Confederacy  should 
have  an  opportunity  to  reply.  At  the  same  time,  it  should 
be  remembered,  in  justice  to  General  Wolseley,  that  that  dis 
tinguished  soldier  expressly  states  that  his  articles  deal  only 
with  the  information  supplied  by  the  Century's  history  of  the 
Civil  War ;  and  he  cannot  be  held  responsible  for  deficien 
cies  in  that  source  of  information. — Editor  North  American 
Review." 

Lord  Wolseley  has  twice  conspicuously  assumed  the  part 
of  a  self-appointed  judge  of  certain  military  problems  pre 
sented  by  the  war  between  the  States,  and  has  presumed  to 
pronounce  his  decisions  in  a  tone  of  authority  that,  viewing 
his  capacity,  amuses,  and,  viewing  his  record,  amazes,  the 
reader  competent  to  judge  between  the  critic  and  the  move 
ments  and  men  he  has  undertaken  to  criticise.  In  The  North 
American  Review  for  May  he  returns  with  increased  venom 
to  his  attack  on  the  Confederate  Executive.  As  his  refer 
ence  to  me  is  so  manifestly  dragged  into  his  article,  and  so 
transparently  an  ebullition  of  temper,  I  had  not  intended  to 
notice  it.  But  I  have  been  so  earnestly  urged  by  personal 
friends  in  both  sections,  in  the  interest  of  historical  truth,  to 
refute  Lord  Wolseley's  slanderous  perversions  of  Confederate 

425 


426  APPENDIX. 

history  that  I  reluctantly  yield  my  personal  inclination  to 
reply  to  him  in  the  pages  of  The  Review. 

My  reluctance  to  engage  in  the  controversy  relating  to  the 
war  between  the  States  is  not  personal  only,  but  rests  on  con 
siderations  of  public  interest ;  for  such  controversies  give 
occasion  to  demagogues  for  reviving  old  animosities  that  are 
injurious  to  the  general  welfare — animosities  which,  unless 
stimulated,  will  surely  and  speedily  disappear.  But,  on  the 
other  hand,  in  order  that  crimination  and  recrimination  be 
tween  the  States  may  forever  cease,  it  is  needful  that  the 
truth,  and  the  whole  truth,  should  be  known,  and  not  per 
verted  in  the  interest  of  faction.  An  entente  cordiale  cannot 
rest  on  a  partisan  pedestal. 

For  my  own  part  in  the  contest  between  the  sections  I 
have  no  excuses  to  make  and  no  apology  to  offer.  I  did  my 
duty  to  the  best  of  my  ability,  according  to  the  faith  in  which 
I  was  reared  and  to  which  I  adhere.  What  is  true  in  my 
own  case  is  equally  true  of  my  associates.  Instead  of  being 
"  traitors,"  we  were  loyal  to  our  States ;  instead  of  being 
rebels  against  the  Union,  we  were  defenders  of  the  Constitu 
tion  as  framed  by  its  founders  and  as  expounded  by  them. 
Taught  by  them  to  regard  the  State  as  sovereign  and  the 
Federal  Government  as  the  agent,  not  the  ruler,  of  the 
States,  we  loyally  followed  the  lead  of  the  sovereign  and  re 
sisted  the  usurpations  of  the  agent.  We  do  not  fear  the  ver 
dict  of  posterity  on  the  purity  of  our  motives,  on  the  sincerity 
of  our  belief,  which  our  sacrifices  and  career  sufficiently  at 
tested. 

But  while  we  of  the  South  have  no  desire  to  keep  alive  the 
controversies  of  the  war,  it  is  equally  due  to  our  own  self- 
respect  and  a  duty  to  our  dead  associates  to  repel  the  unjust 


LORD  WOLSELEY'S  MISTAKES.  427 

aspersions  that  it  has  been  sought  to  fasten  on  the  motives 
and  conduct  of  the  leaders  of  the  Confederacy. 

In  previous  attacks  Lord  Wolseley  contented  himself,  as 
he  does  in  the  first  few  pages  of  his  North  American  Review 
article,  with  speaking  of  me  in  a  tone  of  lofty  disparagement, 
without  condescending  to  give  specific  reasons  for  his  un 
favorable  opinion.  But  now,  after  a  somewhat  Olympian 
sentence  of  condemnation,  the  Adjutant-General  incautiously 
gives  a  condensed  bill  of  particulars,  as  if  to  justify  his  un 
favorable  opinion.  He  writes : 

"  It  may  be  said  that  it  was  impossible  for  any  one  to  fore 
see  the  dimensions  to  which  the  struggle  would  grow.  But 
surely  it  is  a  statesman's  business  at  least  partially  to  gauge 
the  strength  of  the  forces  with  which  he  has  to  deal.  The 
soi-disant  statesman  who  began  his  high  duties  with  the 
avowed  expectation  that  10,000  Enfield  rifles  would  be  suffi 
cient  to  overawe  the  United  States ;  who  then  refused  the 
services  of  360,000  men,  the  flower  of  the  South,  and  ac 
cepted  only  a  fraction  of  them,  because  he  had  not  arms  for 
more ;  the  man  who  neglected  to  buy  the  East  Indian  fleet, 
which  happy  chance  and  the  zeal  of  subordinates  threw  in 
his  way  :  the  ruler  who  could  not  see  that  the  one  vital  ne 
cessity  for  the  South  was,  at  all  sacrifice  and  at  all  hazard,  to 
keep  the  ports  open ;  who  rejected  all  means  provided  by 
others  for  placing  the  finances  of  the  Confederacy  on  a  sound 
basis — that  man,  as  I  think,  did  more  than  any  other  indi 
vidual  on  either  side  to  save  the  Union.  I  have  not  at 
tempted  to  make  the  charge  against  him  as  complete  and 
crushing  as  it  could  easily  be  made  by  those  who  trusted  him 
with  almost  unlimited  powers  in  their  behalf." 

Specifications  are  always  needed  to  give  credence,  if  not 


428  APPENDIX. 

currency,  for  false  accusations  against  men  in  representative 
official  positions ;  but  as  the  acts  of  such  men  are  necessarily 
of  public  record,  they  enjoy  a  facility  of  refutation  rarely 
accorded  to  men  in  more  private  stations. 

I  might  well  be  ashamed  of  my  public  career  if  I  could 
feel  that  the  opinion  of  any  European  stripling  without  an 
earned  record  of  ability  either  in  civil  or  military  life  could 
affect  my  reputation  in  America,  and,  therefore,  I  pass  un 
noticed  his  personal  depreciation ;  but  I  should  have  graver 
cause  to  be  ashamed  of  my  administration  of  the  Confederate 
Government  if  the  allegations  he  makes,  without  proof  or 
reference,  were  founded  in  fact. 

Each  and  every  allegation  in  Lord  Wolseley's  indictment, 
above  quoted,  is  either  false  in  direct  statement  or  false  by 
inference. 

It  is  impossible,  in  the  limited  space  you  assign  me,  fully 
to  refute  all  of  Lord  Wolseley's  false  statements  by  all  the 
abundant  proof  in  contemporary  records  and  books  that  I 
might  easily  submit ;  but  in  the  restricted  space  placed  at  my 
disposal  I  shall  notice  each  of  his  allegations  as  briefly  as 
possible. 

1. — "The  soi-disant  statesman  who  began  his  high  duties 
with  the  avowed  expectation  that  10,000  Enfield  rifles  would 
be  sufficient  to  overawe  the  United  States ;  who  then  refused 
the  services  of  360,000  men,  the  flower  of  the  South,  and 
accepted  only  a  fraction  of  them,  because  he  had  not  arms  for 


more." 


This  assertion  that  360,000  men,  "the  flower  of  the 
South,"  were  offered  to  me  and  refused  is  so  devoid  of  truth 
or  probability  that  only  the  most  reckless  indifference  to  both 
could  have  uttered  it.  That,  in  the  then  condition  of  the 


LOKD  WOLSELEY'S  MISTAKES.  429 

I 
Confederate  States,  there  should  have  been  such  a  numerous 

organization  to  offer  itself  is  as  incredible  as  that  the  Presi 
dent,  who  notoriously  differed  with  most  of  his  countrymen 
in  apprehending  a  long  and  bloody  war,  should  have  de 
clined  the  services  of  such  a  force.  It  is  untrue  as  a  whole 
and  in  every  part.  A  writer  of  history  may  be  expected  to 
consult  contemporaneous  records  rather  than  to  accept  the 
rumors  of  manifestly  unfriendly  writers.  In  this  case,  for 
example,  reference  might  have  been  made  to  the  Confederate 
law  of  that  period. 

In  the  act  of  March  6,  1861,  "to  provide  for  the  public 
defence,"  the  first  section  authorized  the  President  of  the 
Confederate  States  of  America  to  ask  for  and  accept  the 
services  of  any  number  of  volunteers,  not  exceeding  100,000, 
"  to  serve  for  twelve  months,  unless  sooner  discharged.  "  By 
the  second  section  it  is  enacted  that  the  volunteers,  when 
mustered  into  service,  should  be  armed  by  the  States  from 
which  they  came  or  by  the  Confederate  States.  By  the 
fifth  section  the  President  was  authorized  to  accept  the  vol 
unteers  in  companies,  squadrons,  battalions  and  regiments. 
From  this  it  will  be  seen  that  the  largest  organization  con 
templated,  or  which  the  President  was  authorized  to  accept, 
was  the  regiment,  and  thkt,  beyond  the  power  of  the  Con 
federate  Government  to  arm  the  volunteers,  they  were 
required  to  be  armed  by  the  States  from  which  they  came. 
The  law  treated  the  possession  of  arms  as  the  condition  on 
which  volunteers  might  be  accepted,  but  the  English  Adju 
tant-General,  in  haste  to  censure,  does  not  stop  to  inquire 
whether  his  "  men  in  buckram  "  had  arms. 

Again,  a  military  critic  should  know  that,  although  arms 
are  indispensable,  munitions  of  war  are  also  absolutely  essen- 


430  APPENDIX. 

j 
tial  to  troops  in  campaign  ;  and  his  knowledge  need  not  be 

very  profound  to  lead  him  to  the  conclusion  that  ammunition 
was  necessary  to  make  guns  effective.  Of  the  early  and 
active  efforts  made  to  obtain  military  supplies  notice  will  be 
taken  in  the  progress  of  this  article. 

There  is  not  a  shadow  of  a  shade  of  truth  in  Lord  Wol- 
seley's  statement  that  I  began  my  duties  as  President  of 
the  Confederacy  with  "  the  avowed  expectation  that  10,000 
Enfield  rifles  would  be  sufficient  to  overawe  the  United 
States."  It  is  a  fact  of  ineffaceable  record  that  I  publicly 
and  always  predicted  a  long  and  bloody  struggle,  and  for 
that  reason  was  often  censured  by  the  more  ardent  advo 
cates  of  secession  and  termed  "  slow "  and  "  too  conserva 
tive."  No  Southern  man  had  enjoyed  better  opportunities 
than  my  public  life  in  Washington  had  given  me  to  gauge 
the  resources  and  predict  the  probable  policy  of  the  people 
of  the  North ;  for,  as  Senator,  I  had  long  and  intimately 
associated  with  their  representatives,  and  for  four  years 
had  been  United  States  Secretary  of  War.  With  such 
opportunities  of  ascertaining  the  power  and  sentiments  of 
the  Northern  people,  it  would  have  shown  an  inexcusable 
want  of  perception  if  I  had  shared  the  hopes  of  men  less 
favored  with  opportunities  for  forming  correct  judgments, 
in  believing  with  them  that  secession  could  be  or  would  be 
peacefully  accomplished. 

The  absurdity  of  these  statements  may  further  be  seen 
from  the  fact  that,  as  appears  from  the  official  report  of 
General  Gorgas,*  chief  of  the  Confederacy  both  under  the 

*  General  Gorgas  reports  that  at  the  formation  of  the  government  the 
email  arms  at  command  were  15,000  rifles  and  120,000  muskets,  stored  at 
Fayetteville,  Kichmond,  Charleston,  Augusta,  Mount  Vernon  (Ala.)  and 


LORD  WOLSELEY'S  MISTAKES.  431 

provisional  and  the  permanent  government,  there  was  in 
the  armories  of  the  Confederate  States,  subject  to  my  order 
as  Commander-in-Chief,  a  supply  of  arms,  inadequate,  in 
deed,  for  the  needs  of  the  country,  but  vastly  in  excess  of  the 
number  that  according  to  my  military-imaginative  critic,  I 
had  declared  sufficient  to  overawe  the  United  States  ;  and  yet 
it  is  of  public  record  that,  even  before  I  had  selected  the 
members  of  the  provisional  cabinet,  or  engaged  a  private  sec 
retary,  or  had  any  clerical  assistance  whatever,  one  of  my 
first  acts  as  Provisional  President,  at  Montgomery,  was  to 
commission  Captain  (afterwards  Admiral)  Raphael  Semmes 
to  proceed  North  and  purchase  all  the  arms,  ammunition  and 
other  munitions  of  war,  and  the  machinery  for  making  them, 
that  he  could  buy  and  have  delivered.  In  Admiral  Semmes' 
"Memoirs  of  Service  Afloat"  it  will  be  found  on  'page  82 
and  the  following  pages  that  he  reached  Montgomery  on  the 
19th  of  February,  1861,  the  day  after  the  inauguration  of 
President  Davis.  He  there  states  that  he  called  upon  the 
President,  who  conversed  with  him  on  the  want  of  preparation 
for  defence  and  asked  Captain  Semmes  if  he  could  make  use 
of  him,  and  explained  his  purpose  to  send  him  to  the  North- 
Baton  Rouge.  "Besides  the  foregoing,  there  were  at  Little  Rock,  Ark.,  a 
few  thousand  stands,  and  some  few  at  the  Texas  arsenal,  increasing  the 
aggregate  of  serviceable  arms  to,  say,  143,000.  To  these  must  be  added  the 
arms  owned  by  the  several  States  and  by  military  organizations  through 
out  the  country,  giving,  say,  150,000  in  all  for  the  use  of  the  armies  cf  the 
Confederacy."  That  is,  fifteen-fold  more  than,  according  to  Lord  Wolseley, 
I  had  "  avowed  "  as  necessary  to  "  overawe  "  the  United  States.  So  earn 
est  were  the  efforts  made  by  the  Confederate  Government  to  increase  this 
number  of  effective  arms  that  the  chief-of-ordnance  report  of  July  1,  1863, 
shows  that  there  was  then  a  total  of  infantry  arms,  acquired  from  all 
sources,  of  400,000. 


432  APPENDIX. 

ern  States  to  gather  together,  with  as  much  haste  as  possi 
ble,  mechanics  skilled  in  the  manufacture  and  use  of  ord 
nance  and  rifle  machinery,  the  preparation  of  fixed  ammu 
nition,  percussion  caps,  etc.  "He  had  not  selected  all  his 
cabinet,  nor,  indeed,  had  he  so  much  as  a  private  secretary 
at  his  command,  as  the  letter  of  instructions  which  he 
presented  for  my  guidance  was  written  with  his  own  hand. 
This  letter  was  very  full  and  precise,  frequently  descending 
into  detail  and  manifesting  an  acquaintance  with  bureau 
duties  scarcely  to  have  been  expected,"  etc. 

Subsequently,  upon  the  appointment  of  Mr.  Mallory  as 
Secretary  of  the  Navy,  he  sent,  March  13,  1861,  a  letter  fur 
ther  instructing  Captain  Semmes  to  look  out  for  any  vessels 
suited  for  coast  defence ;  and  Captain  Semmes  writes : 
"  Under  these  instructions  I  made  diligent  search  in  the 
waters  of  New  York  for  such  steamers  as  were  wanted,  but 
none  could  be  found."  Admiral  Semmes  adds : 

"I  found  the  people  everywhere  not  only  willing,  but 
anxious,  to  contract  with  me.  I  purchased  large  quantities 
of  percussion  caps  in  the  city  of  New  York,  and  sent  them 
by  express,  without  any  disguise,  to  Montgomery.  I  made 
contracts  for  batteries  of  light  artillery,  powder,  and  other 
munitions,  and  succeeded  in  getting  large  quantities  of  the 
powder  shipped.  I  made  a  contract  for  removal  to  the 
Southern  States  of  a  complete  set  of  machinery  for  rifling 
cannon,  with  the  requisite  skilled  workmen  to  put  it  in 
operation." 

The  interference  of  the  civil  authorities  prevented  many  of 
these  contracts  from  being  fulfilled  at  a  later  day. 

General  Gorgas,  chief  of  ordnance,  writes : 

"  As  to  a  further  supply  of  arms,  steps  had  been  taken  by 


LOKD  WOLSELEY'S  MISTAKES.  433 

the  President  to  import  these  and  other  ordnance  stores  from 
Europe,  and  Major  Caleb  Huse,  graduate  of  West  Point,  and 
at  that  moment  professor  in  the  University  of  Alabama,  was 
selected  to  go  abroad  and  procure  them.  He  left  Montgom 
ery  under  instructions  from  me  early  in  April,  1861,  with  a 
credit  of  £10,000  from  Mr.  Meminger.  The  appointment 
proved  a  happy  one;  for  he  succeeded,  with  very  little 
money,  in  contracting  for  a  good  supply  and  in  running  my 
department  in  debt  for  nearly  half  a  million — the  very  best 
proof  of  his  fitness  for  his  place  and  of  a  financial  ability 
which  supplemented  the  narrowness  of  Mr.  Meminger's 
purse." 

II. — "  The  man  who  neglected  to  buy  the  East  Indian  fleet, 
which  happy  chance  and  the  zeal  of  subordinates  threw  in  his 
way." 

My  first  knowledge  of  the  existence  of  such  a  story  was 
derived  from  the  New  York  Sun  of  November  17,  1878,  in 
which  appeared  what  purported  to  be  an  interview  with 
General  G.  T.  Beauregard  to  the  effect  that  he  had  gone  "  with 
the  messenger  of  Messrs.  Frazer  &  Co.  to  Montgomery, 
had  introduced  the  messenger  to  the  Secretary  of  War,  and 
took  advantage  of  the  opportunity  to  urge  upon  him  the 
immediate  adoption  of  the  proposition,  which  was  to  buy 
some  six  large  and  strong  steamers  just  built  in  England 
for  the  East  India  company."  I  therefore  wrote  to  Gen 
eral  L.  P.  Walker,  ex-Secretary  of  War  of  the  Confederate 
States,  sending  him  the  New  York  Sun  and  requesting  such 
information  as  he  might  have  in  regard  to  the  matter,  and  I 
received  the  following  reply: 


28 


434  APPENDIX. 

HUNTSVILLE,  ALA.,  December  10,  1878. 
HON.  JEFFERSON  DAVIS,  Beauvoir,  Miss. 

Dear  Sir : — I  have  read  the  article  in  the  New  York  Sun, 
which  you  enclosed  in  your  letter  to  me  of  the  2d  inst.  I  do 
not  remember  the  interview  with  me  mentioned  by  General 
Beauregard,  nor  that  any  proposition  was  submitted  to  the 
Confederate  Government  for  the  sale  to  it  of  any  steamers  of 
the  character  stated  here.  If  any  such  proposition  was  made 
it  has  passed  from  my  recollection. 

Yours  Eespectfully, 

L.  P.  WALKER. 

To  a  like  inquiry  addressed  to  Mr.  Meminger,  ex-Secre 
tary  of  the  Confederate  Treasury,  he  replied,  on  November 
27,  1887  : 

CHARLESTON,  S.  C.,  November  27,  1878. 
HON.  JEFFERSON  DAVIS,  Beauvoir,  Miss. 

My  Dear  Sir : — I  have  no  recollection  of  having  heard  of 
the  proposition  referred  to  by  General  Beauregard.  I  remem 
ber  my  having  written  to  Mr.  Treuholm,  one  of  the  firm  of 
John  Frazer  &  Co.,  to  come  on  to  Montgomery  to  present  the 
advantages  of  establishing  a  depot  for  cotton  and  munitions 
of  war  at  Bermuda  and  some  station  in  the  West  Indies,  and 
that  he  came  on  and  appeared  before  the  Cabinet  and  warmly 
advocated  this  plan,  and  that  it  met  with  my  cordial  ap 
proval,  but  it  was  not  approved  by  the  Cabinet. 

I  remember  nothing  of  any  proposal  to  purchase  the  steam 
ers  of  the  India  Company.  Mr.  William  Trenholm  remem 
bers  his  appearance  before  the  Cabinet  in  behalf  of  the  scheme 
above  mentioned.  His  address  was  confined  to  that  scheme, 
but  he  says  he  made  the  proposition  to  the  Secretary  of  War 
and  to  Mr.  Mallory,  the  Secretary  of  the  Navy,  to  purchase 


LORD  WOLSELEY'S  MISTAKES.  435 

the  steamers  of  the  Oriental  Company,  but  that  they  had 
many  grounds  of  objection  to  the  purchase,  such  as  the  great 
draught  of  water,  which  would  prevent  their  entering  South 
ern  ports,  their  construction  of  iron  and  the  want  of  money. 
He  has  no  recollection  of  ever  having  spoken  to  me  or  you  on 
the  subject,  nor  did  it  enter  into  the  statement  made  before  the 
Cabinet;  and  as  to  myself,  I  have  no  recollection  of  having  been 
consulted  either  by  Mr.  Mallory  or  the  Secretary  of  the  War. 
Very  truly  yours, 

C.  G.  MEMINGER. 

It  would  be  needless  to  consider  why  T  "  refused  "  a  pro 
position  which  was  never  made  to  me,  and  can  only  remand 
both  the  refusal  and  the  reason  for  it  to  the  region  of  imag 
ination  from  which  they  sprang. 

The  Confederate  States,  being  without  ship  yards  and  with 
out  skilled  workmen  with  whom  to  build  cruisers  and  to  pro 
vide  for  coast  defences,  were  compelled  to  look  abroad  both 
to  buy  and  to  build  the  vessels  they  required.  Capt.  J.  D. 
Bullock,  a  well-known  officer  of  the  United  States  Navy,  had, 
immediately  after  his  resignation,  reported  at  Montgomery 
for  orders,  and  was  selected  to  go  abroad  as  our  chief  naval 
agent  in  Europe.  He  left  Montgomery  on  May  9,  1861,  to 
get  cruising  ships  of  suitable  type  afloat  with  the  quickest 
possible  despatch,  and  to  buy  and  forward  naval  supplies  of 
all  kinds  without  delay.  Whoever  has  read  his  work,  en 
titled,  "Secret  Service  of  the  Confederate  States  in  Europe," 
will  not  fail  to  perceive  how  fortunate  was  the  selection  for 
the  vitally  important  duty  on  which  he  was  sent  abroad. 
The  diligence  and  energy  with  which  he  filled  the  office  in 
trusted  to  him  are  attested  by  the  list  of  ships  built  and 
bought  by  him  in  Europe  by  the  Confederate  States  Navy 


436  APPENDIX. 

Department,  viz. :  five  steam  cruisers,  one  sailing  vessel,  eight 
steam  blockade-runners,  one  steamer  for  harbor  defence,  four 
steamers  contracted  for,  but  unfinished  at  the  close  of  the  war; 
total,  fifteen  furnished  and  four  under  construction.  Nor  was 
this  all  which  was  contributed ;  for,  meagre  as  the  means 
were  from  the  beginning  to  the  end  of  the  war,  there  were 
continuous  efforts  to  create  and  utilize  all  existing  means  for 
defence.  To  the  Confederacy  the  world  is  indebted  for  the 
introduction  of  iron-clad  ships.  A  vessel  abandoned  by  the 
United  States  was  shielded  with  railroad  iron  for  the  want  of 
plates,  and  made  a  record  at  Hampton  Roads  which  can  never 
be  forgotten. 

I  have  just  received  (August  13)  a  letter  from  Captain 
Bullock,  containing  important  testimony.  Captain  Bullock, 
as  stated  above,  was  appointed  by  me,  when  Provisional  Pres 
ident,  as  the  sole  agent  of  the  Confederate  States  in  Europe 
for  the  purchase  of  arms,  cruisers,  transports,  and  naval  mu 
nitions  of  war.  He  was  appointed  a  captain  of  the  Confed 
erate  States  as  soon  as  he  resigned  his  commission  in  the 
United  States  Navy.  His  letter  is  as  follows : 

30  SYDENHAM  AVENUE,  SIFTON  PARK,  LIVERPOOL, 

JULY  29,  1889. 

MY  DEAR  SIR  : — Mr.  Stoess  handed  me  your  letter  of  the 
15th  instant  this  morning,  and  I  hasten  to  reply  by  the  first 
returning  steamer.  I  have  seen  the  book  to  which  you  al 
lude,  namely,  "  The  Military  Operations  of  General  G.  T. 
Beauregard,"  but,  in  June,  1884,  Mr.  Charles  K.  Prioleau, 
who  was  then  living  in  Bruges,  sent  me  a  copy  of  the  Charles 
ton  News  and  Courier,  which  contained  a  long,  interesting, 
and  very  able  review  of  the  work. 


LOUD  WOLSELEY'S  MISTAKES.  437 

The  reviewer  gave  many  extracts  from  the  book,  and 
among  them  one  stating,  in  effect,  that  a  fleet  of  steamers  be 
longing  to  the  East  Indian  Navy  had  been  offered  to  the  Con 
federate  Government  at  the  beginning  of  the  war,  and  had 
been  declined  by  them,  and  that  the  offer  had  been  made  by 
or  through  Mr.  Charles  K.  Prioleau.  Mr.  Prioleau  was  the 
senior  partner  of  the  Liverpool  firm  of  Frazer,  Trenholm  & 
Co.,  a  firm  affiliated  with  Messrs.  John  Frazer  &  Co.,  of 
Charleston,  and  the  Liverpool  branch  held  the  position  of  the 
bankers  and  financial  agents  of  the  Confederate  Government 
during  the  war  of  secession.  Mr.  Prioleau  was  then  brought 
into  close  personal  and  official  relations  with  me  during  the 
whole  period  of  that  war,  and,  as  he  had  never  mentioned  to 
me  this  alleged  offer  to  the  Confederate  Government,  nor  had 
ever  drawn  my  attention  to  any  such  ships,  I  was  greatly 
surprised  by  the  statement  in  the  review  of  "  General  Beaure- 
guard's  Military  Operations."  I  wrote  at  once  to  Mr.  Prio 
leau,  asking  him  for  information,  and  requesting  him,  if  there 
was  any  truth  in  the  statement,  to  tell  me  why  he  never  men 
tioned  the  matter  to  me.  He  wrote  me  a  very  long  letter  in 
reply,  much  of  its  contents  being  wholly  irrelevant  to  the 
point  at  issue,  but  I  enclose  herewith  a  paper  marked  A*, 
which  is  a  verbatim  copy  of  all  that  he  wrote  in  respect  to 
my  specific  inquiries  about  the  alleged  offer  to  the  Confederate 
Government. 

When  I  went  to  Richmond  in  October,  1861,  to  consult 
with  Mr.  Mallory  about  our  naval  operations  in  Europe,  he 
dwelt  much  upon  the  wish  of  the  Government  to  get  cruisers 
and  also  armored  ships  to  break  the  blockade.  It  is  not  pos 
sible  to  believe  that  he  would  have  omitted  all  allusion  to  the 
East  Indian  Company's  fleet  if  he  had  ever  heard  of  those 


438  APPENDIX. 

vessels.  I  had  just  returned  from  England  with  the  "  Fin- 
gal/'  and,  as  before  mentioned,  Mr.  Prioleau  had  given  me 
not  a  hint  of  the  alleged  offer.  After  my  return  to  Europe,  I 
both  heard  of  and  saw  some  of  the  ships,  but  a  glance  satisfied 
me  that  to  buy  them  for  the  Confederate  Navy  would  have 
been  a  senseless  waste  of  money.  They  were  very  big  ships, 
drawing  too  much  water  to  enter  any  Confederate  port  on  the 
Atlantic  coast.  At  the  time  I  saw  them  they  were  wholly 
dismantled,  and  without  guns  or  any  military  equipment. 
To  arm  and  man  them  for  the  purpose  of  attacking  the  block 
ading  ships  would  have  required  the  resources  of  a  well-fur 
nished  (Jock-yard,  and  the  right  to  enlist  seamen  without  in 
terference.  It  would  have  been  impossible  to  equip  so  large 
a  naval  force  upon  the  high  seas,  or  at  some  secret  place  of 
rendezvous,  as  was  done  with  the  "Alabama"  and  other 
cruisers.  To  put  those  ten  ships  in  fighting  condition  would 
have  required  about  one  hundred  heavy  guns,  and  from 
twelve  to  fifteen  hundred  seamen,  stokers,  etc.,  with  a  large 
supply  of  small  arms  and  ordnance  stores.  It  would  also 
have  been  necessary  to  have  several  large  coal-transports  to 
accompany  the  fleet,  as  the  ships  had  only  auxiliary  sail 
power,  and  were  dependent  upon  steam  for  motive  power. 
•  If  Mr.  Mallory  had  ever  suggested  the  purchase  of  those 
ships  I  should  just  have  mentioned  the  foregoing  facts,  and 
have  drawn  his  attention  to  the  proclamation  of  Her  Britan 
nic  Majesty,  the  British  neutrality  laws,  and  the  restrictions 
in  respect  to  the  coaling  of  belligerent  ships  proclaimed  by 
all  the  neutral  powers,  and  he  would  have  perceived  the  im 
practicability  of  such  an  undertaking.  At  a  later  period  of 
the  war  Mr.  Mallory  did  direct  me  to  examine  two  vessels, 
which  I  have  reason  to  believe  belonged  to  the  same  fleet. 


LORD  WOLSELEY'S  MISTAKES.  439 

On  page  253,  Vol.  II.  of  «  The  Secret  Service  of  the  Con 
federate  States,"  you  will  find  my  report  with  reference  to 
them.  I  think  at  the  moment  of  nothing  else  worth  men 
tioning  on  the  subject  of  your  letter,  but  will  be  glad  to 
give  you  any  further  information  you  may  wish,  if  in  my 
power  to  do  so. 

Very  faithfully  yours, 

JAMES  D.  BULLOCK. 
*A. 

BRUGES,  June  21,  1884. 
MY  DEAR  BULLOCK  : — 

.  .  .  As  regards  the  ten  steamers,  I  thought  you  knew 
about  them.  They  were  a  part  of  the  East  India  Company's 
fleet,  the  "  Golden  Fleece/'  "  Jason,"  «  Hydaspes,"  etc. ;  they 
were  offered  to  me  at  the  very  beginning  of  the  war,  before 
you  came  over,  and  before  the  Queen's  proclamation.  My 
idea  was  that  if  they  could  have  been  armed  and  got  out  they 
would  have  swept  away  every  vestige  of  a  Federal  blockader 
then  upon  the  water.  Frazer,  Trenholm  &  Co.  had  not  then 
been  appointed  agents  of  the  Government,  and  I  did  not  offer 
these  vessels  to  the  Government,  but  I  mentioned  them  in  a 
private  letter  to  Mr.  G.  A.  Trenholm,  leaving  it  to  his  dis 
cretion  to  put  it  before  them. 

As  a  matter  of  fact,  I  never  got  any  reply  to  this  letter 
and  never  knew  that  the  ships  had  even  been  proposed  to  the 
Government  till  long  after  the  war.  No  further  inquiries 
were  ever  made  of  me  concerning  them  from  any  quarter. 
About  nine  or  ten  years  (or  perhaps  not  quite  so  much)  ago, 
General  Beauregard  wrote  me,  saying  that  he  was  engaged 
upon  his  history,  that  he  had  heard  about  these  steamers 
through  William  Trenholm,  who  had  referred  him  to  me  for 


440  APPENDIX. 

the  particulars,  and  asked  me  if  I  would  give  him  a  state 
ment,  and  allow  him  to  mention  my  name  as  to  my  part  of 
the  transaction,  to  which  I  willingly  consented  and  gave  him 
just  the  facts  stated  above.  Of  course,  I  know  now  that  the 
enterprise  would  have  been  impossible,  but  we  did  not  know 
anything  for  certain  then,  and  any  opinion  of  mine  would 
have  been  that  of  a  layman  and  on  its  face  valueless ;  there 
fore,  when  I  heard  no  more  I  naturally  concluded  either  that 
Mr.  Trenholm  had  not  thought  it  worth  while  to  propose  the 
undertaking,  or  that  the  Government  had  been  advised 
against  it  by  their  competent  officers,  and  there  is  no  doubt 
now  that  they  were  quite  right  not  to  risk  so  large  a  sum  of 
money  on  so  doubtful  an  enterprise,  even  if  they  could  have 
readily  raised  it.  It  is,  however,  a  little  strange  that,  if  the 
Government  knew  of  these  ships  at  the  time  you  left,  they 
did  not  instruct  you  to  look  at  them.  On  the  whole,  I  arn 
inclined  to  think  that  they  were  never  offered  to  the  Govern 
ment  at  all,  but  William  Trenholm  knew  of  them  from  hav 
ing  access  to  his  father's  correspondence.  .  . 

I  am,  ever  yours,  sincerely,     C.  K.  PRIOLEAU. 
To  HON.  JEFFERSON  DAVIS. 

In  the  face  of  facts  like  these,  and  many  others  to  which 
the  want  of  space  does  not  permit  me  to  refer,  this  self-con 
stituted  authority  upon  military  affairs  and  civil  government, 
ignorantly  or  maliciously — to  me  it  matters  not  which — pro 
ceeds  on  an  assumption  which  had  no  real  foundation  to 
characterize  me  as 

III. — "  The  ruler  who  could  not  see  that  the  one  vital  neces 
sity  for  the  South  was,  at  all  sacrifice  and  at  all  hazard,  to 
keep  the  ports  open.'9 


LORD  WOLSELEY'S  MISTAKES.  441 

An  Englishman  of  ordinary  intelligence  might  be  expected 
to  know  how  vigilant  his  government  was  in  preventing  even 
unarmed  merchantmen  from  leaving  their  ports,  if  any  one 
would  allege  that  they  were  intended  to  be  converted  into 
war-ships  for  the  use  of  the  Confederate  States.  The  espio 
nage  to  which  Captain  Bullock  was  subjected  and  the  delays 
which  resulted  from  forcing  him  to  appeal  to  the  courts  must 
show  how  flippant  and  absurd  it  is  to  assert  that  a  fleet  of 
steamers  might  have  been  purchased,  manned  and  equipped, 
and  sent  out  as  cruisers  to  raise  the  blockade  of  Confederate 
ports.  Captain  Bullock,  vigilant  and  active,  inquiring  as 
well  in  the  ports  of  Great  Britain  as  those  of  the  Continent, 
seems  never  to  have  found  this  fleet  of  steamers  so  admirably 
adapted  to  war  purposes  that  with  them  the  Gulf  and  Atlan 
tic  seaboard  might  have  been  so  cleanly  swept  that  the 
commander  of  the  fleet  should  have  carried  a  broom  at  his 
masthead. 

The  next  arraignment  by  Lord  Wolseley's  unbridled  im 
agination  is  to  describe  him  as 

IV. — "  The  ruler  who  rejected  all  means  proposed  by  others 
for  placing  the  finances  of  the  Confederacy  on  a  sound  basis." 

This  is  understood  to  be  the  long-ago  exploded  theory  that 
the  confederacy  should  have  sent  out  the  cotton  crop  of  1860- 
'61  and  placed  it  as  the  basis  of  credit  in  Europe.  In  an 
swer  to  this  visionary  charge  against  the  administration  as 
the  cause  of  Confederate  failure,  Mr.  C.  G.  Meminger,  the 
Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  on  the  27th  of  March,  1874,  wrote 
to  the  editor  of  the  Charleston  News  and  Courier  a  letter, 
from  which  the  following  conclusive  extracts  are  made : 

"The  Confederate  Government  was  organized  in  February, 
1861.  The  blockade  was  instituted  in  May,  thus  leaving  a 


442  APPENDIX. 

period  of  three  months  in  which  the  whole  cotton  crop  on 
hand — say  4,000,000  bales — ought,  according  to  this  military 
financier,  to  have  been  shipped  abroad.  This  would  have 
required  a  fleet  of  four  thousand  ships,  allowing  one  thousand 
bales  to  the  ship !  Where  would  these  vessels  have  been  pro 
cured  in  the  face  of  the  notification  of  the  blockade?  and  was 
not  as  much  of  the  cotton  shipped  by  private  enterprise  as 
could  have  been  shipped  by  the  Government  ?  When  so 
shipped,  the  proceeds  of  the  sale  were,  in  most  cases,  sold  to 
the  Government  in  the  shape  of  bills  of  exchange.  The 
superior  advantage  of  this  plan  is  evinced  by  the  fact  that 
throughout  the  year  the  Government  exchanged  its  own  notes 
for  bills  on  England  at  par,  with  which  it  paid  for  all  its 

arms  and  munitions  of  war.  .  .  . 

"C.  G.  MEMINGER." 

In  answer  to  the  same  vague  assertion,  G.  A.  Trenholm, 
the  successor  of  Mr.  Meminger  in  the  Treasury  Depart 
ment,  wrote  to  the  editor  of  the  Charleston  News  and  Courier 
a  full  answer,  from  which  I  make  the  following  extract : 

"  Let  us  examine  the  facts  upon  which  this  theory  rests, 
and  without  the  support  of  which  it  must  necessarily  fall  to 
the  ground.  The  crop  of  cotton  available  for  this  scheme 
must  have  been  that  of  1860-'61.  It  could  not  have  been 
the  crop  of  which  the  seed  was  not  yet  put  in  the  ground 
when  the  Government  was  formed  at  Montgomery.  What 
was,  then  the  crop  of  1860-'61  ?  Was  it  4,000,000  to  5,000,- 
000  bales,  and  was  it  accessible  for  immediate  exportation  ? 
.  .  .  Up  to  the  28th  of  February,  the  month  that  gave  birth 
to  the  infant  government,  3,000,000  bales  had  been  received 
at  the  seaports,  and  the  great  bulk  of  it  had  been  exported  to 
Europe,  or  been  sold  to  the  New  England  spinners.  By  the  1st 


LOKD  WOLSELEY'S  MISTAKES.  443 

of  May  586,000  bales  more  had  been  received  and  sold.  Eng 
land  and  the  Continent  took  3,127,000  bales;  the  New  Eng 
land  spinners  654,000  bales.  It  thus  will  be  seen  that  before 
the  new  government  was  fairly  organized  the  entire  crop  was 
already  beyond  its  reach.  Another  crop  followed,  but  the  ex 
portation  in  any  quantity  was  an  absolute  impossibility. 
There  were  no  vessels  in  the  ports -of  the  Confederacy.  The 
last  had  left  before  the  expiration  of  the  sixty  days  allowed  to 
foreign  tonnage.  The  only  vessels  that  took  cotton  after  that 
time  were  the  foreign  steamers  that  ran  the  blockade  to  pro 
cure  cargoes  for  the  owners.  They  came  in  small  numbers, 
and  one  or  two  at  a  time.  Had  the  Government  seized  one 
of  them  for  its  own  use,  or  prevented  them  from  leaving  with 
cotton,  they  would  have  ceased  to  come." 

These  extracts  from  the  letters  of  two  of  the  ablest  finan 
ciers  of  the  South,  whose  close  relation  to  the  Treasury  De 
partment  gave  them  the  best  opportunity  of  knowing  what 
could,  should  or  might  have  been  done,  will,  it  is  hoped,  be 
satisfactory  to  any  who  have  doubted  the  propriety  of  the 
financial  policy  of  the  Confederacy,  or  who  have  not  seen  that 
the  plan  proposed  was  utterly  impracticable. 

JEFFERSON  DAVIS. 


A  PATRIOTIC  LEGACY  TO  THE  PEOPLE 
OF  NORTH  CAROLINA. 

BY  JEFFERSON  DAVIS. 

FAYETTEVILLE,  N.  C.,  Nov.  21.— The  following  letter 
from  the  Hon.  Jefferson  Davis  was  read  to-day  by  Hon. 
J.  Green  : 

BEAUVOIR,  Miss.,  Oct.  30th,  1889. 

Messrs.  Wharton  J.  Green,  James  C.  McRae,  C.  W*  Broad- 
foot,  Neil  W.  Ray,  W.  C.  McDuffie,  Charlotte: 
GENTLEMEN — Your  letter  inviting  me  to  attend  North 
Carolina's  Centennial,  to  be  held  at  Fayetteville  on  the  21st 
of  November  next,  was  duly  received,  but  this  acknowl 
edgment  has  been  delayed  under  the  hope  that  an  im 
provement  in  my  health  would  enable  me  to  be  present  as 
invited.  As  the  time  approaches  I  find  that  cherished 
hope  unrealized  and  that  I  must  regretfully  confess  my 
inability  to  join  you  in  the  commemorative  celebration.  It 
has  been  my  sincere  wish  to  meet  the  people  of  the  "  Old 
North  State"  on  the  occasion  which  will  naturally  cause 
them,  with  just  pride,  to  trace  the  historic  river  of  their 
years  to  its  source  in  the  colony  of  Albemarle.  All  along 
that  river  stand  monuments  of  fidelity  to  the  inalienable 
rights  of  the  people,  even  when  an  infant  successfully  re 
sisting  executive  usurpation,  and  in  the  defence  of  the  priv 
ileges  guaranteed  by  charter,  boldly  defying  Kings,  Lords 
and  Commons.  Always  self-reliant,  yet  not  vainly  self- 
asserting,  she  provided  for  her  own  defence,  while  giving 
444 


A  PATRIOTIC  LEGACY.  445 

material  aid  to  her  neighbors,  as  she  regarded  all  of 
the  British  colonies  of  America.  Thus  she  sent  troops, 
armed  and  equipped,  for  service  in  both  Virginia  and  South 
Carolina;  also  dispatched  a  ship  from  the  port  of  Wil 
mington  with  food  for  the  sufferers  in  Boston  after  the 
closing  of  that  port  by  Great  Britain.  In  her  declaration 
that  the  cause  of  Boston  was  the  cause  of  all,  there  was 
not  only  the  assertion  of  a  community  of  rights  and  a  pur 
pose  to  defend  them,  but  self-abnegation  of  the  commer 
cial  advantages  which  would  probably  accrue  from  the  clos 
ing  of  a  rival  port. 

Without  diminution  of  regard  for  the  great  and  good 
men  of  the  other  colonies,  I  have  been  led  to  special 
veneration  of  the  men  of  North  Carolina,  as  the  first  to 
distinctly  declare  for  State  independence,  and  from  first  to 
last  to  uphold  the  right  of  a  people  to  govern  themselves. 

I  do  not  propose  to  discuss  the  vexed  question  of  the 
Mecklenburg  resolutions  of  May,  1775,  which,  from  the 
similarity  of  expression  to  the  great  Declaration  of  Inde 
pendence  of  July,  1776,  have  created  much  contention ; 
because  the  claim  of  North  Carolina  rests  on  a  broader 
foundation  than  the  resolves  of  the  meeting  at  Mecklen 
burg,  which  deserve  to  be  preserved  as  the  outburst  of  a 
brave,  liberty-loving  people  on  the  receipt  of  news  of  the 
combat  at  Concord  between  British  soldiers  and  citizens  of 
Massachusetts.  The  broader  foundations  referred  to  are  the 
records  of  the  events  preceding  and  suceeding  the  meeting  at 
Mecklenburg,  and  the  proceedings  of  the  Provincial  Congress, 
which  met  at  Hillsboro  in  August,  1775.  Before  this  con 
gress  convened  North  Carolina,  in  disregard  of  opposition  by 
the  Governor,  had  sent  delegates  to  represent  her  in  the  gen- 


446  APPENDIX. 

eral  congress  to  be  held  in  Philadelphia,  and  had  denounced 
the  attack   upon  Boston,  and  had  appointed  committees  of 
safety  with  such  far-reaching  functions  as  belong  to  revolu 
tionary  times  only.     The  famous  Stamp  Act  of  Parliament 
was  openly  resisted  by  men  of  highest   reputation,  a  vessel 
bringing  the  stamps  was  seized  and  the  commander  bound, 
not  to  permit  them  to  be  landed.     These  things  were  done  in 
open  day  by  men  who  wore  no  disguise  and  shunned  no  ques 
tion.     Before  the  congress  of  the  province  had  assembled  the 
last  royal  Governor  of  North  Carolina  had  fled,  to  escape 
from  the  indignation  of  a  people  who,  burdened  but  not  bent 
by  oppression,  had  resolved  to  live  or  die  as  freemen.     The 
congress  at  Hillsboro  went  earnestly  to  work,  not  merely  to 
declare  independence  but  to  provide  the  means  for  maintain 
ing  it.     The  congress,  feeling  quite  equal  to  the  occasion, 
proceeded  to  make  laws  for  raising  and  organizing  troops,  for 
supplying  money,  and  to  meet  the  contingency  of  a  blockade 
of  her  sea  ports,  offered  bounties  to  stimulate  the  production 
of  the  articles  most  needful  in  time  of  war.     On  the  12th  of 
April,  1776,  the  Continental  Congress  being  then  in  session, 
and  with  much  diversity  of  opinion  as  to  the  proper  course  to 
be  pursued  under  this  condition  of  affairs,  the  North  Caro 
lina  Congress  resolved  "  that  the  delegates  for  this  colony  in 
the  Continental  Congress  be  empowered  to  concur  with  the 
delegates  of  the  other  colonies  in  declaring  independency  and 
forming  foreign  alliances,  reserving  to  the  colony  the  sole  and 
exclusive  right  of  forming  a  constitution  and  laws  for  the 
colony,"  etc.,  etc. 

This,  I  believe,  was  the  first  distinct  declaration  for  sepa 
ration  from  Great  Britain  and  State  independence,  and  there 
is  much  besides  priority  to  evoke  admiration.  North  Caro- 


A  PATRIOTIC  LEGACY.  447 

lina  had,  by  many  acts  of  resistance  to  the  British  authorities, 
provoked  their  vengeance,  yet  she  dared  to  lead  in  defiance ; 
yet  no  danger,  however  dread  in  the  event  of  her  isolation, 
could  make  her  accept  co-operation,  save  with  the  reservation 
of  supremacy  in  regard  to  her  own  constitution  and  laws — 
the  sacred  principle  of  "  community  independence  "  and  gov 
ernment  founded  on  the  consent  of  the  governed.  After 
having  done  her  whole  duty  in  the  war  for  independence  and 
become  a  free,  sovereign  and  independent  State,  she  entered 
into  the  Confederation  with  these  rights  and  powers  recog 
nized  as  unabridged.  When  experience  proved  the  articles 
of  Confederation  to  be  inadequate  to  the  needs  of  good  gov 
ernment,  she  agreed  to  a  general  convention  for  their  amend 
ment.  The  convention  did  not  limit  its  labors  to  amendment 
of  the  articles,  but  proceeded  to  form  a  new  plan  of  govern 
ment,  and,  adhering  to  the  cardinal  principle  that  govern 
ments  must  be  derived  from  the  consent  of  the  governed, 
submitted  the  new  plan  to  the  people  of  the  several  States,  to 
be  adopted  or  rejected  as  each  by  and  for  itself  should  decide. 
It  is  to  be  remembered  that  the  articles  of  Confederation  for 
the  "United  States  of  America"  declared  that  "  the  Union 
shall  be  perpetual,"  and  that  no  alteration  should  be  made  in 
the  said  articles  unless  it  should  "  be  confirmed  by  the  Legis 
lature  of  every  State."  True  to  her  creed  of  State  sover 
eignty,  North  Carolina  recognized  £he  power  of  such  States  as 
chose  to  do  so  to  withdraw  from  the  Union,  and  by  the  same 
token  her  own  unqualified  right  to  decide  whether  or  not  she 
would  subscribe  to  the  proposed  compact  for  a  more  perfect 
Union,  and  in  which  it  is  to  be  observed  the  declaration  for 
perpetuity  was  omitted.  In  the  hard  school  of  experience 
she  had  learned  the  danger  to  popular  liberty  from  a  govern- 


448  APPENDIX. 

merit  which  could  claim  to  be  the  final  judge  of  its  own 
powers.  She  had  fought  a  long  and  devastating  war  for 
State  independence,  and  was  not  willing  to  put  in  jeopardy 
the  priceless  jewel  she  had  gained.  After  a  careful  exami 
nation,  it  was  concluded  that  the  proposed  constitution  did 
not  sufficiently  guard  against  usurpation  by  the  usual  resort 
to  implication  of  powers  not  expressly  granted,  and  declined 
to  act  upon  the  general  assurances  that  the  deficiency  would 
soon  be  supplied  by  the  needful  amendments.  In  the  mean 
time,  State  after  State  had  acceded  to  the  new  union,  until  the 
requisite  number  had  been  obtained  for  the  establishment  of 
the  "Constitution  between  the  States  ratifying  the  same." 
With  characteristic  self-reliance,  North  Carolina  confronted 
the  prospect  of  isolation,  and  calmly  resolved,  if  so  it  must 
be,  to  stand  as  one  rather  than  subject  to  hazard  her  most 
prized  possession,  community  independence.  Confiding  in 
the  security  offered  by  the  first  ten  amendments  to  the  Con 
stitution,  especially  the  ninth  and  tenth  of  the  series,  North 
Carolina  voluntarily  acceded  to  the  new  union.  The  tenth 
amendment  restricted  the  functions  of  the  Federal  govern 
ment  to  the  exercise  of  the  powers  delegated  to  it  by  the 
States,  all  of  which  were  expressly  stipulated.  Beyond  that  limit 
nothing  could  be  done  rightfully.  If  covertly  done,  under  color 
of  law,  or  by  reckless  usurpation  of  an  extraneous  majority 
which,  feeling  power,  should  disregard  right,  had  the  State 
no  peaceful  remedy  ?  Could  she,  as  a  State  in  a  confederation, 
the  bed  rock  of  which  is  the  consent  of  its  members,  be  bound 
by  a  compact  which  others  broke  to  her  injury  ?  Had  her 
reserved  rights  no  other  than  a  paper  barrier  to  protect  them 
against  invasion  ? 

Surely  the  heroic  patriots  and  wise  statesmen  of  North 


A  PATRIOTIC  LEGACY.  449 

Carolina,  by  their  sacrifices,  utterances  and  deeds,  have  shown 
what  their  answer  would  have  been  to  these  questions,  if  they 
had  been  asked,  on  the  day  when,  in  one  convention,  they 
ratified  the  amended  Constitution  of  the  United  States.  Her 
exceptional  delay  in  ratification  marks  her  vigilant  care  for 
the  rights  she  had  so  early  asserted  and  so  steadily  maintained. 

Of  her  it  may  be  said,  as  it  was  of  Sir  Walter  Scott  in  his 
youth,  that  he  was  "always  the  first  in  a  row  and  the  last  out 
of  it."  In  the  peaceful  repose  which  followed  the  Revolution 
all  her  interests  were  progressive. 

Farms,  school-houses  and  towns  rose  over  a  subdued  wilder 
ness,  and  with  a  mother's  joy  she  saw  her  sons  distinguished 
in  the  public  service  by  intelligence,  energy  and  perseverance, 
and  by  the  integrity  without  which  all  other  gifts  are  but  as 
tinsel.  North  Carolina  grew  apace  in  all  which  constitutes 
power.  Until  1812  she  was  required,  as  a  State  of  the 
Union,  to  resist  aggressions  on  the  high  seas  in  the  visitation 
of  American  merchant  vessels  and  the  impressment  of  Ameri 
can  seamen  by  the  armed  cruisers  of  Great  Britain. 

These  seamen  generally  belonged  to  the  New  England 
States ;  none,  probably,  were  North  Carolinians ;  but  her  old 
spirit  was  vital  still ;  the  cause  of  one  was  the  cause  of  all,  as 
she  announced  when  Boston  was  under  embargo. 

At  every  roll-call  for  the  common  defence  she  answered 
"  Here."  When  blessed  peace  returned  she  stacked  her  arms, 
for  which  she  had  no  prospective  use.  Her  love  for  her  neigh 
bors  had  been  tried  and  not  found  wanting  in  the  time  of  their 
need ;  why  should  she  anticipate  hostility  from  them  ? 

The  envy,  selfish  jealousy  and  criminal  hate  of  a  Cain 
could  not  come  near  to  her  heart.  If  not  to  suspect  such  vice 
in  others  be  indiscreet  incredulity  it  is  a  knightly  virtue  and 
29 


460  APPENDIX. 

part  of  an  honest  nature.  In  many  years  of  military  and 
civil  service  it  has  been  my  good  fortune  to  know  the  sous  of 
North  Carolina  under  circumstances  of  trial,  and  I  could  make 
a  list  of  those  deserving  honorable  mention  which  would  too 
far  extend  this  letter,  already,  I  fear,  tediously  long. 

Devotion  to  principle,  self-reliance  and  inflexible  adherence 
to  resolution  when  adopted,  accompanied  by  conservative 
caution,  were  the  characteristics  displayed  by  North  Carolina 
in  both  her  colonial  and  State  history.  All  these  qualities 
were  exemplified  in  her  action  on  the  day  the  anniversary 
of  which  you  commemorate.  If  there  be  any,  not  likely  to 
be  found  with  you,  but  possibly  elsewhere,  who  shall  ask 
"  how  then  could  North  Carolina  consistently  enact  her  ordi 
nance  of  secession  in  1861?"  he  is  referred  to  the  Declaration 
of  Independence  of  1776,  to  the  articles  of  Confederation  of 
1777,  for  a  perpetual  union  of  the  States  from  the  union  so 
established;  to  the  treaty  of  1783,  recognizing  the  indepen 
dence  of  the  States  severally  and  distinctively ;  to  the  Con 
stitution  of  the  United  States,  with  its  first  ten  amendments; 
to  the  time-honored  resolutions  of  1789-1790;  that  from 
these,  one  and  all,  he  may  learn  that  the  State,  having  won 
her  independence  by  heavy  sacrifices,  had  never  surrendered  it 
nor  had  ever  attempted  to  delegate  the  inalienable  rights  of 
the  people.  How  valiantly  her  sons  bore  themselves  in  the 
war  between  the  States  the  lists  of  the  killed  and  wounded 
testify.  She  gave  them  a  sacrificial  offering  on  the  altar  of 
the  liberties  their  fathers  had  won,  and  had  left  as  an  inheri 
tance  to  their  posterity.  Many  sleep  far  from  the  land  of 
their  nativity.  Peace  to  their  ashes.  Honor  to  their  mem 
ory  and  the  mothers  who  bore  them. 

Faithfully,          JEFFERSON  DAVIS. 


JEFFERSON  DAVIS* 

death  of  Jefferson  Davis  marks  the  departure  of  one 
who  for  nearly  a  generation  has  had  only  a  historical 
interest  to  the  American  people.  And  it  is  as  a  histor 
ical  figure,  as  far  removed  from  the  stern  judgments  of  the 
hour  as  Bolingbroke  or  Pitt,  that  he  will  be  viewed  even  by 
those  who,  under  the  cruel  pressure  of  terrible  events,  were 
wont  to  regard  him  as  the  incarnation  of  treason  and  rapine. 
We  have  been  so  long  accustomed  to  regard  Mr.  Davis  as  the 
embodiment  of  the  Southern  Confederacy,  as  the  object  of  ex 
treme  hatred  by  one  class  of  our  people  and  of  extreme  adu 
lation  by  another,  that  it  is  difficult  to  assign  him  a  true  place 
among  the  rulers  of  men.  A  generation  must  pass  and  many 
hidden  things  become  known  before  the  tribunal  of  history 
will  pass  its  final  judgment  upon  his  character  and  his 
career. 

We  know  enough  of  the  inner  workings  of  that  extraordi 
nary  movement  which  developed  into  civil  war  to  know 
that  Mr.  Davis  was  not  an  original  extreme  secessionist,  that 
he  cherished  Union  hopes  long  after  Yancey,  Rhett,  Toombs 
and  their  fiery  associates  had  become  enemies  of  the  Re 
public. 

His  course  recalls  the  reluctance  with  which  Washington 
and  Franklin  accepted  separation  from  Great  Britain,  and 

*  It  has  been  thought  to  be  of  interest  to  many  of  the  South  to  see  the 
editorial  on  Jefferson  Davis  of  the  New  York  Daily  Herald,  which  is  a  rep 
resentative  paper  of  the  North.— (PUBS.) 

451 


452  APPENDIX. 

how  they  were  driven  into  revolution  by  the  fiery  counsels  of 
Jefferson  and  the  Adarnses. 

In  the  Southern  Confederacy  as  in  the  Revolution,  when 
the  time  came  for  action  Davis  was  selected  because  he  repre 
sented  the  conservatism  and  character  of  the  secession  move 
ment.  The  extreme  secessionists  supported  Robert  Toombs, 
and  Confederate  leaders  have  lamented  that  Toombs,  with 
his  passion  and  fury,  his  supposed  Danton-like  energy  and 
animosities,  was  not  at  the  head  of  the  South  rather  than  the 
military  martinet  Davis.  They  believed  in  a  volcanic,  cha 
otic,  anarchical  war-  -the  South  streaming  over  the  North 
like  the  Huns  over  the  Roman  provinces.  But  the  conserv 
ative  counsels  prevailed,  and  the  reluctant  secessionist  Davis 
became  the  President  of  the  Confederacy. 

"We  question  if  the  volcanic  policy  which  Toombs  favored 
would  have  helped  the  Confederacy.  Historical  criticism 
shows  the  fatuity  of  that  whole  secession  movement,  and  the 
impossibility  of  ultimate  success  against  the  resolution  and 
patience  of  the  North.  Mr.  Davis,  however,  did  as  much 
with  his  Confederacy  as  was  possible.  He  maintained  it  as  a 
political  force  for  four  years,  standing  by  it  with  intense,  un 
reasoning,  stubborn  devotion,  never  murmuring  nor  admitting 
defeat,  proud  to  the  end,  the  last  of  the  Confederates  to  furl 
the  Confederate  flag,  awed  by  no  reverse,  discouraged  by  no 
disaster,  obstinate,  gloomy,  implacable,  taking  the  sternest  re 
sponsibilities,  offering  no  compromise,  seeking  none,  never 
veiling  his  cause  by  apologies,  nor  until  the  hour  of  his  death 
showing  the  least  regret.  We  may  give  him  the  praise  that 
history  awards  to  Pitt  for  that  statesman's  resistance  to  Na 
poleon.  Yet  this  praise  brings  its  condemnation.  If  Pitt 
had  shown  true  statesmanship  he  would  have  come  to  terms 


COMMENTS  OF  THE  PKES&  453 

with  Bonaparte  at  Amiens  and  saved  England  many  a  day  of 
sorrow  and  shame.  And  if  Davis  had  had  the  highest  polit 
ical  courage  he  would  have  seen  that  every  soldier  killed 
after  Gettysburg  and  Vicksburg  was  sacrificed  in  a  hopeless 
cause,  and  that  then  his  Confederacy  was  doomed. 

In  the  essential  elements  of  statesmanship  Davis  will  be 
judged  as  the  rival  and  parallel  of  Lincoln.  When  the  two 
men  came  face  to  face,  as  leaders  of  two  mighty  forces,  bitter 
was  Northern  sorrow  that  Providence  had  given  the  South  so 
ripe  and  rare  a  leader  and  the  North  an  uncouth  advocate 
from  the  woods.  But  it  was  not  long  before  the  North  was 
to  realize  with  gratitude  the  wisdom  of  Providence  in  so  or 
daining  it.  Lincoln  steadily  grew  to  his  work.  Flexible, 
patient,  keen,  resolute,  far-seeing,  with  pathetic  common  sense 
and  a  strange  power  over  the  hearts  of  men,  Lincoln  led  and 
fashioned  his  hosts,  never  advancing  to  recede,  outmatching 
Davis  at  every  point  by  his  diplomacy,  his  knowledge  of 
politics,  his  power  to  wait  as  well  as  his  power  to  strike 
crushing  blows.  It  is  painful  to  contrast  this  nimble,  subtle 
genius,  adapting  himself  to  the  mutations  of  every  hour,  with 
the  cold  mathematics  of  Davis,  who  managed  politics  upon 
the  barren  dogmas  of  Calhoun  and  conducted  war  like  a  tutor 
at  West  Point.  The  man  who  saw  the  skies  above  and  the 
horizon  about  him  was  to  overmaster  the  precise  metaphysi 
cian  who  saw  nothing  but  his  tasks  and  lived  in  the  tradi 
tions  of  an  antecedent  generation. 

The  later  years  of  Mr.  Davis  have  been  marked  by  a  spirit 
which  grew  impatient  with  advancing  age.  His  invectives 
against  the  North  were  heard  by  those  against  whom  they 
were  directed  with  pity.  We  felt  almost  as  if  he  were  saying 
with  Lear,  "  You  do  me  wrong  to  take  me  out  of  the  grave." 


454  APPENDIX. 

They  were  truly  the  words  of  a  foolish,  fond  old  man,  who 
could  not  outlive  the  remembrance  of  the  fact  that  he  was 
once  the  ruler  of  a  people,  the  leader  of  a  lost  cause.  He 
lived  and  died  in  the  indulgent  recognition  of  his  countrymen. 
His  Confederacy  has  gone  into  the  limbo  of  dead  political  ex 
periments.  The  knightly  genius  of  Lee,  the  sombre  fury  of 
Jackson,  the  gallantry  of  Stuart,  the  narrow  fanaticism  of 
Sydney  Johnson,  the  proud,  unpausing  valor  of  the  hundreds 
of  thousands  who  followed  them  to  the  supreme  fate  of  war 
— all  will  live  in  song  and  story  as  an  undying  part  of  our 
history.  And  in  this  history  no  one  will  hold  a  more  conspi 
cuous  place  than  the  stern,  implacable,  resolute  leader,  whose 
cold,  thin  lips  have  closed  forever  in  that  beloved  South 
which  he  served  with  passion  if  not  with  wisdom. 


LONDON  PRESS  ON  DAVIS. 

WHAT    THE    ENGLISH    EDITORS    SAY  ABOUT  THE    CONFED 
ERACY'S  PRESIDENT. 
From  the  New  York  Herald. 

LONDON,  Dec.  7,  1889. — The  London  papers  print  long 
obituaries  of  Jefferson  Davis.  In  their  editorials  they  say 
that  it  would  be  difficult  to  name  an  American  who  for  the 
last  forty  years  has  occupied  a  more  conspicuous  position  in 
the  eyes  of  his  fellow-countrymen. 

LIBEKAL  OPINION. 

The  News  says  :  — "  The  splendid  clemency  of  the  great 
popular  government  in  the  case  of  Mr.  Davis  has  been  justi 
fied  by  the  results.  Mr.  Davis  passing  his  old  age  in  peace 
has  stood  as  an  evidence  of  the  absolute  security  of  the  federal 
system/' 

The  Morning  Chronicle  says  : — "  In  the  nature  of  things 
Mr.  Davis  can  never  be  recognized  as  a  national  hero.  Still 
he  was  a  man  of  no  ordinary  mould,  and  was  a  rebel  only 
because  the  contest  he  entered  upon  ended  in  failure." 

TWO  TOKY  VIEWS, 

All  the  evening  papers  last  evening  had  leaders  on  Jeffer 
son  Davis.  The  Globe  recalled  Mr.  Gladstone's  eulogium, 
including  the  famous  phrase  so  much  criticised  at  the  time, 
"  Jefferson  Davis  has  created  a  nation ; "  adding  that  if  he 
had  not  created  a  nation  it  was  because  such  a  creation 
was  clearly  not  possible  in  the  conditions;  that  if  states- 

455 


456  APPENDIX. 

manship,  military  genius  and  devotion  on  the  part  of  a 
whole  people  were  sufficient  for  the  foundation  of  a  State, 
a  slave-holding  republic  would  have  been  established.  The 
enterprise  failed  because  success  in  the  conditions  was  im 
possible. 

The  St.  Jaines'  Gazette  doubts  whether  Davis  will  take  a 
historical  position  as  one  of  the  world's  great  men.  He 
was  a  man  of  great  persistency  of  purpose  and  keen  polit 
ical  vision.  He  had  wonderful  luck  in  discovering  Lee — 
one  of  the  greatest  generals  of  the  age — and  Secretary 
Benjamin,  an  exceedingly  shrewd  administrator.  The  St. 
James'  Gazette  draws  a  striking  comparison  between  Davis 
and  some  of  his  famous  contemporaries,  and  especially  com 
pares  Lincoln's  unique  personality  and  deeply  cherished 
memory  with  the  absence  of  enthusiasm  for  Davis,  or  even 
of  general  interest  in  him.  Lee,  it  says,  is  glorified  in  the 
Old  World  as  in  the  New;  Stonewall  Jackson  is  almost 
glorified  in  England,  while  as  Davis  departs  from  the 
scene  of  human  activities  it  is  doubtful  if  a  single  person 
outside  the  immediate  circle  of  his  relatives  is  affected  by 
a  passing  thrill  of  emotion. 


NORTHERN  ESTIMATE  OF  DAVIS. 
TENACIOUS   AND   OBSTINATE  AND  NOT  SUCCESSFUL  AS  A 


From  the  New  York  Herald. 

A     QUARTER  of  a  century  ago  the  announcement  of  the 

J\_      death  of  Jefferson  Davis  would  have  fallen  like  a 

monster  bomb  in  this  city.      Yesterday  it  was  read 

and  discussed  with  the  calm  interest  that  was  given  to  the 

President's  message. 

Some  estimate  of  Mr.  Davis'  character  from  representative 
men  who  knew  him  well  are  given  herewith. 

The  first  is  from  Burton  N.  Harrison,  who  was  private 
secretary  to  President  Davis  during  the  war  between  the 
States,  but  is  now  a  member  of  the  New  York  Bar,  with  an 
office  at  No.  120  Broadway.  Mr.  Harrison  said  :  — 

"  Yes,  I  was  secretary  to  President  Davis  during  what  was 
called  the  '  permanent  government  '  of  the  Confederate  States. 
My  relations  to  him  were  of  the  closest  intimacy,  and  I  have 
cherished  for  him  the  most  grateful  and  affectionate  regard. 
He  was  of  a  lofty  character,  guided  by  a  sense  of  duty 
throughout  life,  singularly  pure  in  every  act  and  in  all  his 
thoughts. 

"  Mr.  Davis  was  an  aristocrat,  reticent,  stately,  courteous, 
always  disinterested  and  of  an  undaunted  courage  and  rare 
singleness  of  purpose.  He  had  scholarly  tastes  and  was 
familiar  with  our  older  literature  and  with  the  writers  of  the 
first  third  of  this  century,  but  when  I  was  with  him,  had  not 

457 


458  APPENDIX. 

found  time  for  the  books  of  later  days.     Mr.  Davis  was  a 
soldier  always  and  a  good  one. 

HE  KNEW  WHAT  THE  SOUTH  MUST  MEET. 

"  Mr.  Davis  had  been  reared  in  the  school  of  strictest  con 
struction  of  the  constitution.  He  had  no  doubts  of  the  rights 
or  of  the  duty  of  the  Southern  States  after  the  Presidential 
election  in  1860,  but  it  cost  him  the  keenest  suffering  and 
sorrow  to  withdraw  from  under  the  flag  he  had  loved.  He 
knew  so  well  the  power  and  population  and  resources  of  the 
States  of  the  North  and  the  unreadiness  and  comparative 
poverty  of  the  less  populous  States  of  the  South  and  their 
many  disadvantages  in  a  long  war  as  to  look  upon  disunion 
and  its  certain  consequences  with  horror.  He  had  been  a 
leader  among  the  States'  rights  men  in  debate,  but  shrunk 
from  actual  secession.  It  was  with  sincere  reluctance  he  ac 
cepted  the  Presidency  of  the  Confederate  States,  and  after  the 
war  had  passed  its  first  stage  and  the  North  had  become  prac 
tically  unanimous  in  prosecuting  it  he  felt  he  was  struggling 
against  almost  certain  defeat,  until  General  Lee's  remarkable 
campaigns  persuaded  him  against  his  own  judgment  that  the 
South  could  conquer  an  independence." 

PEYOK'S   ESTIMATE  OF  DAVIS. 

General  Roger  A.  Pryor,  the  well-known  lawyer  of  this 
city,  and  at  one  time  a  prominent  leader  of  the  Southern  Con 
federacy,  said : — "  I  first  met  Davis  in  1855,  when  I  was 
editor  of  the  Washington  Union.  He  was  then  in  the  Senate. 
I  knew  him  better  as  Secretary  of  War,  and  from  that  time 
until  the  end  of  the  war  we  were  thrown  much  together. 
Right  here  I  wish  to  say  it  is  a  mistake  to  suppose  that  Davis 


NORTHERN  ESTIMATE  OF  DAVIS.  .      459 

was  a  secessionist.  On  the  contrary,  he  was  originally  op 
posed  to  secession.  Graduate  of  West  Point  and  Secretary  of 
War  as  he  was,  it  was  to  his  interest  and  disposition  to  main 
tain  the  Union.  He  even  made  a  speech  at  Portland,  Me., 
when  Secretary  of  War,  in  which  his  devotion  to  the  Union 
is  expressed  in  strong  language.  The  ultra  party  in  his  own 
State  drove  him  to  secession  against  his  better  judgment.  I 
say  this  in  justice  to  him." 

"  As  chief  of  the  Southern  Confederacy  he  was  not  re 
garded  as  a  complete  success.  He  had  little  tact  and  not 
very  much  administrative  ability,  though,  it  is  true,  he  was  a 
good  Secretary  of  War.  On  the  other  hand,  however,  he  was 
a  man  of  high  principle  and  entirely  loyal  to  the  Southern 
cause.  He  was  also  quite  religious  and  regularly  attended  an 
Episcopal  Church." 

GENERAL  PORTER'S  ESTIMATE. 

"  I  knew  Mr.  Davis  intimately,"  said  General  Horace 
Porter.  "  I  was  an  instructor  at  West  Point  just  before  the 
war  broke  out,  and  Mr.  Davis  was  then  the  president  of  a 
board  appointed  to  revise  the  course  of  instruction.  He  was 
a  man  of  great  intelligence,  had  a  remarkable  fund  of  infor 
mation  on  all  subjects,  but  was  a  man  of  very  arbitrary  char 
acter,  very  dogmatic  in  his  opinions,  and  on  this  account  often 
made  a  great  many  enemies  where  he  might  have  made 
friends  by  a  more  conciliatory  course. 

"  He  was  a  man  of  a  great  deal  of  tenacity  of  purpose,  and 
this  trait  was  displayed,  unfortunately,  in  the  latter  part  of 
the  war,  when  he  persisted  in  fighting  until  they  reached  the 
last  ditch,  when  many  others  in  the  South  saw  that  defeat  was 
inevitable,  and  urged  that  overtures  be  made  looking  to  peace. 


460  APPENDIX. 

But  this  was  better  in  the  end,  as,  if  peace  had  come  sooner 
than  it  did,  slavery  might  not  have  been  so  thoroughly  eradi 
cated  and  the  general  questions  might  not  have  been  as  com 
pletely  settled  as  they  were. 

WHY  THE  FLAG  WAS  HALF-MASTED. 

I  called  the  attention  of  Proprietor  Cranston,  of  the  New 
York  Hotel,  to  the  fact  that  there  was  some  criticism  over 
the  fact  that  he  was  flying  the  flag  of  his  hotel  at  half-mast. 

"Well,  what  objection  is  there  to  that?"  he  responded. 
"  Mr.  Davis  has  been  a  very  prominent  figure  in  our  national 
life,  and  I  do  not  see  why  there  should  be  any  fault  found 
over  our  doing  him  this  small  honor.  We  have  been  hearing 
for  years  that  there  is  now  'no  north,  no  south,  no  east,  no 
west/  but  that  we  are  all  one  brotherhood.  I  am  not  desir 
ous  of  acquiring  any  notoriety  out  of  the  fact  that  I  have  put 
out  our  flag  at  half  mast  on  this  occasion  while  others  have 
not.  I  have  done  it  simply  out  of  respect  to  the  memory  of 
Mr.  Davis,  who  was  a  distinguished  citizen  of  this  country 
before  the  war  began.  Whenever  he  was  in  this  city,  I  may 
add,  he  made  his  headquarters  at  this  hotel." 

REMINISCENCES  OF  KEPKESENTATIVE  MILLS,  OF  TEXAS. 

ft  Mr.  Davis  was  regarded  by  the  Southern  people  as  one  of 
the  greatest,  best  and  purest  men  in  the  world.  We  all  loved 
him.  He  was  our  representative  man,  and  all  of  the  Southern 
people  understood  that  the  opposition  he  encountered  and  the 
adverse  criticisms  piled  upon  him  were  intended  for  them. 
His  position  was  misunderstood  in  the  North.  Mr.  Davis 
was  a  Union  man  at  the  beginning  and  he  adopted  the  course 
he  did  with  great  reluctance,  but  from  a  feeling  of  duty.  He 


NOETHEKN  ESTIMATE  OF  DAVIS  461 

was  deeply  attached  to  the  Union,  and  wanted  to  exhaust 
every  means  on  earth  to  prevent  a  rupture.  He  was  not  a 
vindictive  or  cruel  man.  He  had  perfect  confidence  in  him 
self,  was  well  balanced  on  all  occasions  and  was  a  great  mili 
tary  man  and  statesman.  He  was*  highly  accomplished  and 
spoke  the  purest  of  English.  His  memory  was  marvelously 
clear.  He  never  forgot  anybody.  My  predecessor,  Mr.  Ged- 
dings,  told  me  that  one  day  Mr.  Davis  was  addressing  a 
crowd,  when  a  snowy  haired  old  man  on  the  outskirts  ex 
pressed  a  desire  to  greet  the  speaker,  whom  he  had  known 
and  served  under  in  the  Mexican  war.  Mr.  Geddings  offered 
to  introduce  him,  but  the  old  man  declined,  and  going  up  to 
Mr.  Davis,  offered  him  his  hand  and  asked  if  he  recognized 
him.  Mr.  Davis  fixed  his  eyes  upon  him  for  a  moment,  his 
mouth  twitched,  tears  sprang  into  his  eyes,  and  he  exclaimed  : 
'  Ward,  snow  has  fallen  on  your  head  since  I  last  saw  you.' 
*  And  that/  Mr.  Mills  said, '  was  about  forty  years  before  the 
meeting.7 " 


MESSAGES  OF  CONDOLENCE. 

PROMINENT  MEN  THROUGHOUT  THE  SOUTH   EXPRESS 
THEIR  SYMPATHY  WITH   MRS.    DAVIS. 

JACKSON,  Miss. 

Hon.  E.  H.  Farrar:  Bells  are  tolling,  public  buildings 
draped  in  mourning,  an  immense  meeting  to  be  held  at 
4  P.M.,  with  view  of  dispatching  committee  to  claim  remains 
of  the  great  dead  for  interment  in  Mississippi. 

ROBERT  LOWRY,  Governor. 

JACKSON,  Miss. 

Mrs.  Jefferson  Davis :  Permit  us  to  tender  you  and  yours 
assurances  of  sympathy  in  your  unspeakable  bereavement. 
Your  great  husband  will  live  always  in  the  reverent  and 
affectionate  memory  of  all  our  people,  whose  grief  now  is 
without  measure.  W.  W.  STONE, 

T.  M.  MILLER,  GEO.  M.  GOVAN, 

T.  R.  PRESTON,  W.  D.  HOLDEN, 

W.  L.  HEMINGWAY. 

AUSTIN,  TEX. 

I  write  in  a  portrayal  of  sincere  condolence  with  those 
who  honored  your  illustrious  husband  while  living,  and  who 
revere  his  memory  when  dead.  His  lofty  patriotism,  im 
maculate  integrity  and  firmness  of  purpose,  which  never 
yielded  principle  for  expediency  nor  abandoned  the  right  for 
success,  will  be  held  up  for  emulation  by  the  aspiring  youth 
of  Texas  who  would  achieve  an  honorable  distinction  among 
their  fellow  men.  L.  S.  Ross,  Governor. 

462 


MESSAGES  OF  CONDOLENCE.  463 

JACKSON,  Miss. 

Mr.  E.  H.  Farrar:  State  officers  resolve  to  attend  the 
funeral  in  a  body.  Please  advise  arrangements.  Will  you 
kindly  make  known  to  the  family  that  Mississippi,  the  State 
he  loved  so  well,  will  claim  the  honor  of  being  the  resting- 
place  of  the  patriot,  statesman  and  nobleman,  whose  great 
name  is  indissolubly  linked  with  her  own  ? 

EGBERT  LOWRY,  Governor. 

COLUMBIA,  S.  C. 

Mrs.  Jefferson  Davis:  "With  my  deep  and  sincere  personal 
sympathy  I  beg  to  express  to  you  the  profound  sorrow  of  the 
people  of  South  Carolina  at  the  intelligence  of  the  death  of 
your  illustrious  husband.  The  fame  of  his  greatness  will 
grow  with  the  passing  years. 

J.  P.  RICHARDSON,  Governor  South  Carolina. 

ATLANTA,  GA. 

Mrs.  Jefferson  Davis:  You  have  deepest  sympathy  in  the 
loss  of  your  illustrious  husband.  They  loved  him  to  the 
last.  JOHN  J.  GLENN,  Mayor  of  Atlanta. 

No.  320  JOSEPHINE  STREET,  DEC.  6,  1889. 
Judge  E.  C.  Fenner. 

DEAR  SIR  :  The  people  of  Louisiana  will  hear  with 
profound  grief  and  sorrow  the  death  of  President  Davis, — a 
man  who,  standing  equally  the  tests  of  prosperity  and  adver 
sity,  became  even  more  and  more  endeared  to  the  true  men 
and  women  of  his  State  as  his  brave  and  unblemished  life 
drew  to  a  close. 

Would  you  do  me  the  kindness,  at  a  later  moment,  to 
convey  to  Mrs.  Davis  my  sincere  sympathy  with  her  and 


464  APPENDIX. 

the  expression  of  strong  regard  and  affection  for  her  hus 
band? 

I  would  have  seen  you  this  morning  in  person,  but 
sprained  my  foot  last  night  so  badly  as  to  make  it  impossi 
ble  for  me  to  leave  the  house.  I  have  directed  that  the 
flag  on  the  Capitol  be  displayed  at  half-mast. 

Very  truly,  FRANCIS  T.  NICHOLLS. 


MARCOS,  TEX. 
Mrs.  Jefferson  Davis:  The  South  mourns  to-day  as  mourns 
the  family  when  a  link  in  the  chain  is  broken.     Your  sor 
row  is  our  own.  W.  D.  WOOD, 

E.  H.  REYNOLDS,  GEO.  T.  MCGEHEE, 

HAMMETT  HARDY,         SAM'L  R.  KANE, 
J.  V.  HENDERSON,         STERLING  FISHER. 

NORFOLK,  YA. 

Mrs.  Jefferson  Davis:  We  venerate  the  memory  of  our 
dead  President  and  reverently  tender  you  our  deep  sympathy 
in  your  great  grief.  BEXET  BUCHANAN, 

Commanding  Confederate  Veterans. 
J.  F.  CECIL,  Commander. 

JACKSON,  Miss. 

Mrs.  Jefferson  Davis:  My  sympathies  and  prayers  are 
with  you.  HUGH  MILLER  THOMPSON. 

ATLANTA,  GA. 

Mrs.  Jefferson  Davis:  Please  accept  my  sincere  sympathy 
in  your  bereavement.  Our  whole  people  mourn  with  you 
and  pray  that  God  may  bless  you  and  yours. 

HENRY  W.  GRADY. 


MESSAGES  OF  CONDOLENCE.  465 

ATLANTA,  GA. 

Mrs.  Jefferson  Davis:  The  West  View  Cemetery  Company 
renew  their  offer  to  you  in  February  last  through  Mr.  Sid 
ney  Root,  and  beg  that  you  will  accept. 

\V.  J.  GARRET,  President. 

HEADQUARTERS  CONFEDERATE  SURVIVORS'  ) 
ASSOCIATION,  AUGUSTA,  GA.,  DEC.  6.       J 
Mrs.  Jefferson  Davis:  The  members  of  the  Confederate 
Survivors'  Association  of  Augusta,  Ga.,  crave  the  privilege 
of  assuring  you  at  the  earliest  moment  of  their  profound 
sympathy  and  heartfelt  sorrow  upon  the  demise  of  your  illus 
trious  husband  and  beloved  chief  and  the  venerated  Presi 
dent  of  the  Southern  Confederacy. 

CHAS.  C.  JONES,  JR., 
President  Confederate  Survivors'  Association. 

ATLANTA,  GA. 

Mrs.  Jefferson  Davis:  "Warmest  sympathies  and  most  fer 
vent  prayers  will  go  down  to-morrow. 

J.  WM.  JONES,  Senator. 

MEMPHIS,  TENN. 

Mrs.  Varina  Davis:  The  Historical  Association  of  Mem 
phis  tenders  its  sympathy  and  regrets  at  the  great  loss  sus 
tained  by  you  and  the  country  in  the  death  of  Mr.  Davis. 
This  association  begs  the  boon  of  bringing  his  honored  remains 
here  for  burial,  and  we  assure  you  and  the  country  that  his 
grave  shall  be  kept  green  through  the  coming  ages.  We 
urge  this,  as  he  was  a  member  of  our  association,  made  his 
first  home  here  after  the  war,  and  was  dear  to  the  hearts  of 
this  community.  C.  W.  FRAZER,  President. 

E.  J.  BLOCK,  Secretary. 
30 


466  APPENDIX, 

LITTLE  ROCK,  ARK. 

Mrs.  Jefferson  Davis:  My  wife  and  self  deeply  sympa 
thize  with  you  in  this  greatest  affliction  that  could  befall 
you.  We  all  deplore  the  death  of  your  precious  husband, 
who  was  beloved  by  all  who  knew  him.  He  was  a  great 
and  good  man.  The  whole  South  mourn  his  loss,  and  his 
name  will  ever  have  a  warm  place  in  the  hearts  of  those  he 
leaves  to  follow  him.  JOHN  D.  ADAMS. 

ST.  Louis,  Mo. 

Mrs.  Jefferson  Davis:  Mingling  mine  with  the  sincere 
grief  of  the  countless  admirers  and  lovers  of  your  illustrious 
husband,  I  beg  to  tender  to  you  and  family  heartfelt  sympa 
thy  in  this  your  hour  of  deepest  affliction. 

MARCUS  BERNHEIMER. 

NEW  YORK. 

Mrs.  Jefferson  Davis:  I  and  my  household  mourn  with 
you.  Accept  our  sincere  sympathy. 

W.  H.  HARDY. 

Mr.  WM.  L.  DAVIS,  of  New  York,  expressed  his  loving 
sympathy. 

DALLAS,  TEX. 

Mrs.  Jefferson  Davis:  Myself,  in  common  with  all  the 
Confederates  in  Texas,  mourn  the  death  of  your  illustrious 
husband.  May  God  have  you  and  your  children  in  his 
keeping !  W.  L.  CABELL. 

RICHMOND. 

Mrs.  Jefferson  Davis:  Accept  my  heartfelt  and  devoted 
sympathy  in  your  deep  sorrow.  W.  G.  WALTER. 


MESSAGES  OF  CONDOLENCE.  467 

MEMPHIS,  TENN. 

Mrs.  Jefferson  Davis:  Our  hearts  follow  you  and  beat  in 
tenderest  sympathy  with  you  in  this  hour  of  your  deepest 
sorrow.  We  pray,  God  give  you  grace  to  bear  your  cross, 
and  grant  that  the  soul  of  your  noble  and  illustrious  husband 
may  rest  in  peace!  MARCO  AND  KATIE  PAOLO. 

MEMPHIS. 

Mrs.  Jefferson  Davis:  Please  accept  assurances  of  our 
great  sorrow  and  heartfelt  sympathy. 

MR.  AND  MRS.  H.  M.  NEELY. 

ATLANTA,  GA. 
Mrs.  Varina  Davis. 

MY  DEAR  FRIEND  :  God  bless  you  and  keep  you  in 
this  sore  trial.     The  whole  South  mourns  with  you. 

SIDNEY  Koor. 

WASHINGTON,  DEC.  6. 
Mrs.  Jefferson  Davis. 

MY  DEAR  FRIEND  :  Myself  and  family  mourn  with 
you  for  the  death  of  your  distinguished  and  noble  husband 
and  my  most  valued  friend.  In  the  hour  of  your  calamity 
you  have  the  affectionate  sympathy  of  millions  of  loving 
friends,  who  deplore  the  loss  of  the  true  friend,  the  earnest 
Christian,  the  patriotic  citizen,  the  wise  statesman,  most  be 
loved  and  venerated  by  a  large  part  of  the  American  people 
for  his  self-sacrificing  devotion  to  principle  and  to  duty. 
May  God  protect  and  help  you  in  your  great  affliction ! 
Command  me  always  if  I  can  serve  you. 

JOHN  H.  KEAGAN. 

TALLAHASSEE,  FLA. 
Mrs.  Jefferson  Davis:  Permit  me  to  tender  my  sincerest 


468  APPENDIX. 

sympathies  in  the  great  affliction  which  has  come  to  you. 
The  people  of  the  South  mourn  with  you  in  this  our  com 
mon  bereavement.  F.  P.  FLEMMING,  Governor. 

RICHMOND,  YA. 

My  wife  unites  with  me  in  love  and  sincere  sympathy 
with  you  in  the  loss  of  your  illustrious  husband.  His  life 
was  the  illustration  of  talent  and  virtue  that  ennobled  hu 
manity.  Jos.  R.  ANDERSON. 

ATLANTA,  GA. 

Mrs.  Jefferson  Davis:  No  people  would  hold  the  remains 
of  your  illustrious  dead  in  deeper  or  more  constant  reverence 
than  the  people  of  Atlanta,  and  we  should  esteem  it  the 
highest  honor  to  have  them  in  West  View  Cemetery, — itself 
a  battle-field  on  which  his  soldiers  fought  and  fell. 

H.  W.  GRADY. 

GOLDSBORO',  N.  C. 

Mrs.  Jefferson  Davis:  Thomas  Ruffin  Camp,  Ex- Confed 
erate  Veterans,  of  Wayne  County,  North  Carolina,  now  con 
vened  to  pay  tribute  to  the  memory  of  your  illustrious  hus 
band,  beg  leave  to  express  their  profound  sympathy  and  to 
mourn  with  you  and  yours  in  the  sad  bereavement  which 
has  befallen  you  in  the  death  of  their  beloved  ex-President. 

SWIFT  GALLOWAY,  Commander. 

ATLANTA,  GA. 

Mrs.  Jefferson  Davis:  If  you  and  your  family  are  inclined 
to  accept  the  offer  of  the  beautiful  cemetery  in  this  city, 
which  I  urgently  advise,  they  will  bring  all  the  remains  of 
your  children.  Perpetual  care  is  guaranteed,  and  a  monu 
ment  will  be  built.  SIDNEY  ROOT. 


MESSAGES  OF  CONDOLENCE.  469 

MONTGOMERY,  ALA. 

Mrs.  Jefferson  Davis:  With  profound  sympathy  and  con 
dolence  in  your  great  bereavement,  and  in  response  to  the 
united  wishes  of  our  people,  we  earnestly  request  that  you 
allow  us  to  have  the  remains  of  Mr.  Davis  buried  here  under 
the  Confederate  monument,  on  Capitol  Hill,  where  he  was 
inaugurated  President,  the  corner-stone  of  which  was  laid  by 
him,  and  which,  when  completed,  will  be  ornamented  with  a 

life-size  bronze  statue  of  him. 

EDWARD  W.  PLERS, 
President  Confederate  Veterans1  Association  of  Alabama. 

J.  T.  HOLTZCHAW, 

President  Montgomery  Veterans'  Association. 

W.  S.  REESE, 
President  Alabama  Confederate  Monument  Association. 

MRS.  M.  D.  RIBB, 

President  Ladies'  Memorial  Association. 
EDMUND  A.  GRAHAM,  Mayor 
THOS.  H.  WATTS, 
Ex-Attorney  General  Confederate  States. 

MACON,  GA. 

Mrs.  Jefferson  Davis:  The  Riverside  Company  of  Macon 
offer,  with  their  heartfelt  sympathy  in  your  great  affliction, 
the  best  and  most  conspicuous  burial  lot  in  their  cemetery, 
overlooking  Acmulgo  River  and  the  City  of  Macon.  We 
have  an  endowment  requiring  perpetual  care  of  graves  and 
lots,  and  it  is  laid  out  on  the  lawn  plan.  The  grounds  are 
beautiful,  undulating  and  artificially  planted  as  one  harmo 
nious  flower-garden  on  a  lofty  eminence,  overlooking  the 
river  and  city,  and  adjacent  to  both  is  a  Confederate  redoubt, 
which  is  guaranteed  to  be  preserved ;  and  we  offer  this  lovely 
spot  as  a  fitting  burial  place  for  Mr.  Davis  and  as  a  family 


470  APPENDIX. 

burial  lot.  The  lot  will  be  ornamented  with  fountains  and 
lakelets,  and  the  entire  redoubt,  or  fort,  with  flowers,  as 
directed  by  yourself,  and  a  splendid  memorial  will  be  erected 
if  you  accept  our  urgent  and  loving  offer.  We  will  gladly 
bear  all  transportation  and  burial  expenses,  and  will  send  an 
escort  to  bring  the  body  to  Macon.  We  beg  you  to  visit 
Macon  and  remain  as  the  city's  guest. 

ROBERT  E.  PARK,  President  Riverside  Cemetery. 

WASHINGTON,  D.  C. 

Mrs.  Jefferson  Davis:  Every  true  son  of  the  South  shares 
your  sorrow.  J.  C.  S.  BLACKBURN. 

ATHENS,  GA. 

Mrs.  Jefferson  Davis:  We  tender  our  heartfelt  sympathies 
to  yourself  and  family  in  the  loss  of  our  soldier  statesman 
and  ex-Confederate  chieftain. 

EX-CONFEDERATE  SOLDIERS  SURVIVORS*  ASSOCIATION 
OF  NORTHEAST  GEORGIA. 

H.  H.  CARLLER,  President. 
ED.  D.  NEWTON,  Secretary. 

MEMPHIS,  TENN. 

We,  the  friends  of  our  ex-President,  join  in  expressions 
of  sympathy  with  a  united  South  generally,  and  the  citizens 
of  Memphis  particularly,  and  desire  to  add  their  earnest  re 
quest  to  that  of  the  Confederate  Historical  Association  of 
this  city,  that  his  honored  remains  may  find  their  final  rest 
ing  place  here  where  he  was  always  loved. 

THOS.  H.  ALLEN,  M.  C.  GALLOWAY, 

H.  C.  WELLON,  THOS.  N.  ALLEN, 

W.  H.  CALLEEN,  JAS.  E.  BEASLEY, 

CASEY  YOUNG,  M.  B.  TREZEVANT. 


MESSAGES  OF  CONDOLENCE.  471 

ATLANTA,  GA. 

Mrs.  Jefferson  Davis:  The  West  View  Cemetery  Company 
tenders  a  beautiful  lot  for  the  burial  of  Mr.  Davis  and  his 
family,  and  will  have  the  remains  of  any  of  his  children  re 
moved  to  it.  The  people  of  Atlanta  would  be  glad  to  have 
the  remains  of  your  illustrious  husband  rest  in  their  midst, 
and  will  take  pride  in  protecting  his  grave  in  the  future. 

JOHN  T.  GLENN,  Mayor. 

CLARKSVILLE,  TENN. 

Mrs.  Jefferson  Davis:  A  public  meeting  of  the  citizens  of 
Clarksville  join  Forbes  Bivouac  in  tendering  to  you  and 
yours  their  heartfelt  sympathies  in  the  hour  of  your  afflic 
tion.  Our  people  mourn  with  you  in  the  death  of  your 
illustrious  husband  and  our  ex-President,  and  shall  ever 
cherish  the  memory  of  his  invaluable  services  to  our  South 
ern  land.  J.  J.  GROSSMAN, 

A.  D.  SEARS. 

EICHMOND,  VA. 

Mrs.  Jefferson  Davis:  The  sympathetic  chords  of  the 
hearts  of  our  people  are  deeply  touched  at  the  loss  of  one 
we  have  ever  regarded  with  the  greatest  affection,  and  the 
memory  of  whose  valor  and  virtue  we  will  ever  hold  sacred. 

FITZHUGH  LEE,  Governor. 

WASHINGTON. 

Mrs.  Jefferson  Davis:  The  whole  Southern  people  are  in 
grief  over  the  death  of  their  great  and  beloved  countryman, 
and  their  sympathy  with  you  and  your  precious  ones  is  deep 
and  pervading.  Please  believe  that  what  I  feel  for  you  can 
not  be  told  in  words.  L.  Q.  C.  LAMAR. 


472  APPENDIX. 

CHATTANOOGA,  TENN. 

Mrs.  Jefferson  Davis:  For  many  days  we  Lave  eagerly 
watched  the  bulletins  from  the  bed-side  of  our  late  chieftain, 
sharing  your  anxiety  in  his  condition.  The  ray  of  hope  that 
gleamed  but  yesterday  filled  our  hearts  with  joy  commensu 
rate  with  your  own  unsolicited  letter  of  congratulations  for 
Forest  Camp,  which  scarcely  started  on  its  way  when  we 
were  shocked  by  the  announcement  of  his  death.  Our  heads 
bow  in  sorrow  and  our  hearts  ache  in  sympathy  with  you 
and  your  family  in  the  hour  of  your  bereavement,  that  is 
shared  in  our  whole  Southland. 

J.  T.  SKIPP,  Commander. 

J.  T.  DICKERSON,  Adjutant. 

ST.  Louis,  Mo. 

J.  U.  Payne :  In  the  loss  of  your  devoted  and  life-long 
friend,  my  heart  goes  out  in  deepest  sympathy  to  you  and 
Mrs.  Davis,  with  an  assurance  of  my  profound  sorrow  and 
regret.  MILES  SELLS. 

ST.  Louis,  Mo. 

Mrs.  Jefferson  Davis :  The  members  of  the  Ex-Confeder 
ate  Historical  and  Benevolent  Association  of  St.  Louis  tender 
you  their  deepest  sympathy.  The  memory  of  your  illustri 
ous  husband  will  always  be  fresh  in  our  hearts. 

JOSEPH  BOYCE,  President. 

KALEIGH,  N.  C. 

Mrs.  Jefferson  Davis :  North  Carolina  mourns  with  you 
the  death  of  the  greatest  and  most  beloved  of  the  sons  of  our 
Southland.  DANL.  G.  FOWLE,  Governor. 


MESSAGES  OF  CONDOLENCE.  473 

MONTGOMERY,  ALA. 

Mrs.  Jefferson  Davis :  All  sons  and  daughters  of  Alabama 
weep  with  you  and  yours.  W.  S.  REESE. 

WASHINGTON,  D.  C. 

Mrs.  Jefferson  Davis :  The  whole  South  mourns  with  you. 
Your  husband's  hold  upon  the  affections  of  the  people  in  his 
last  days  was  even  stronger  than  in  the  time  of  his  great 
power.  E.  C.  WALTHALL. 

Mr.  J.  U.  Payne  received  a  dispatch  from  ex-Gov.  Lub- 
bock,  of  Texas,  asking  when  Mr.  Davis  would  be  buried,  as 
he  desired  to  attend. 

JACKSON,  Miss. 

Mrs.  Jefferson  Davis:  The  great  heart  of  Mississippi  is 
touched  by  the  death  of  her  best  beloved. 

His  noble  nature  and  public  services  will  be  treasured 
always  in  the  memory  of  her  people. 

Accept  assurances  of  my  heart-felt  sympathy.  Your  be 
reavement  is  our  bereavement,  and  may  their  merciful  God 
comfort  you.  ROBERT  LOWRY,  Governor. 

MOBILE,  Dec.  6,  1889. 

President  Army  of  Northern  Virginia :  Please  telegraph 
me  when  the  funeral  of  Jefferson  Davis  will  take  place,  and 
what  arrangements  will  be  made  for  delegations  of  military 
and  citizens.  PRICE  WILLIAMS, 

President  Lee  Association. 

A  TRIBUTE  TO  A  KIND  MASTER. 

Among  the  hundreds  of  letters  received  by  Mrs.  Jeffer 
son  Davis  since  the  death  of  her  distinguished  husband 


474  APPENDIX. 

there  is  scarcely  one  more  suggestive  and  touching  than 
one  from  his  old  servants  at  Brierfield,  Miss.,  which  reads  : 
"  We,  the  old  servants  and  tenants  of  our  beloved  master, 
Hon.  Jefferson  Davis,  have  cause  to  mingle  our  tears  over 
his  death,  who  was  always  kind  and  thoughtful  of  our 
peace  and  happiness.  We  extend  to  you  our  humble  sym 
pathy.  Respectfully,  your  old  tenants  and  servants."  Mr. 
Davis  was  always  a  kind  master,  and  such  incidents  as 
this,  which  could  be  multiplied,  are  the  most  effectual  an 
swers  to  many  of  the  untruthful  publications  that  have 
been  made  about  him. 


BALTIMORE'S  MEMORIAL* 

A  I<ARGE  AUDIENCE  AT    THE  ARMORY  OF    THE    FIFTH 

REGIMENT   APPLAUD    STIRRING  WORDS  AND 

TOUCHING  TRIBUTES. 

THE  tongues  of  Marylanders  whose  hearts  once  beat  for 
the  Confederacy  wove  a  bright  chaplet  of  respect  and 
admiring  tribute  to  the  memory  of  Jefferson  Davis  at 
the  Fifth  Regiment  Armory  last  night.     The  people  of  the 
State  who  upheld  in  thought  or  deed  the  cause  which  the 
dead  leader  championed  were  fairly  represented  in  the  aud 
ience.     Several  of  the  speakers  and  many  of  those  who  lis 
tened  had  worn  the  uniform  of  gray  during  the  four  bloody 
years  of  civil  strife,  and  some  had  felt  the  force  of  the  bullets 
fired  so  thickly  in  defence  of  the  Union  cause. 

The  gathering  was,  in  many  respects,  a  remarkable  one, 
and  noticeably  different  from  those  which  usually  assemble 
at  public  meetings.  It  was  such  as  might  come  together  at 
a  high-class  lecture  or  the  performance  of  some  famous  oper 
atic  star,  and  the  air  of  refinement  and  perfect  decorum 
which  pervaded  the  exercises  and  everything  connected  with 
the  occasion  was  striking.  Ladies  outnumbered  the  stronger 
sex  three  to  one,  and  they  were  nearly  all  well  dressed  and 
cultivated  in  appearance.  There  were  kindly  and  dignified 
grandmothers  who  had,  perhaps,  lost  a  son  or  husband  fight 
ing  in  defense  of  the  stars  and  bars,  and  younger  women 
whose  hearts  once  trembled  for  the  safety  of  lovers  in  the 

*  From  the  Baltimore  Sun  of  December  12th,  1889. 

475 


476  APPENDIX. 

legions  of  Lee  or  Jackson.  Young  ladies  on  the  safe  side 
of  twenty-five  were  numerous  also,  and  either  accompanied 
their  fathers  and  brothers  or  sat  beside  their  beaux. 

The  doors  were  not  thrown  open  to  the  general  public 
until  a  short  time  before  the  exercises  began  at  eight  o'clock, 
and  it  was  difficult  for  gentlemen  to  get  in  previous  to  that 
hour  unless  they  were  accompanied  by  female  companions. 
Some  of  the  male  auditors  brought  along  three  or  four  ladies, 
and  the  fair  ones  clapped  their  gloved  hands  as  enthusiasti 
cally  as  anybody  when  the  speakers  said  anything  especially 
eloquent  or  touching. 

Confederate  officers,  whose  bravery  and  devotion  won 
honorable  recognition  away  back  in  the  sixties,  could  be 
picked  out  in  the  assemblage  on  every  side.  Some  of  them 
were  quite  old,  and  their  warlike  goatees  and  such  hair  as 
they  had  left  showed  the  whitening  touch  of  years;  but  their 
acquaintances  could  tell  of  many  a  madcap  charge  or  reck 
less  assault  in  which  they  took  part  when  the  hot  blood  of 
youth  dashed  impetuously  through  their  veins.  Those  who 
belonged  to  the  Society  of  the  Army  and  Navy  of  the  Con 
federate  States  in  Maryland  wore  the  bright-colored  decora 
tions  of  that  organization,  modeled  after  the  Confederate 
battle-flag. 

THE  DECOEATIONS. 

The  decoration  of  the  hall  was  meagre  and  confined  to  the 
vicinity  of  a  large  platform  erected  for  the  speakers  at  the 
north  end.  From  the  edge  of  the  raised  space  a  plain  fold 
of  black  mourning  material  hung  straight  down  to  the  floor, 
and  was  held  in  place  at  the  top  by  seven  red  and  white  ro 
settes.  From  each  bunch  of  ribbon  streamed  long  pieces  of 


BALTIMOKE'S  MEMORIAL.  477 

white  and  black  material,  which  made  an  appropriate  effect. 
The  speakers'  stand  was  also  covered  with  black  and  white, 
drawn  back  in  the  form  of  a  cross  in  front. 

PORTRAIT  OF   MR.  DAVIS. 

A  picture  of  the  dead  ex-President  at  the  front  of  the  gal 
lery  overhead  attracted  more  attention  than  any  other  object 
in  the  room  because  of  its  prominent  position.  It  was  a 
bust  view  at  least  equal  to  life  size,  and  represented  Mr. 
Davis  dressed  in  clothing  like  that  worn  in  the  far  South. 
The  cool,  low-cut  vest  showed  a  wide  shirt  front,  and  the 
black  necktie  seemed  to  have  slipped  loose.  But  while  the 
garb  in  the  picture  looked  very  natural,  everybody  re 
marked  that  the  features  were  not  those  of  Mr.  Davis.  The 
beard  was  full  and  cropped  something  after  the  style  of  the 
late  General  Grant,  and  the  face,  it  was  remarked,  was  a  lit 
tle  too  full  to  look  like  the  original.  Persons  in  the  au 
dience  busied  themselves,  before  the  addresses  began,  in  com 
paring  the  picture  to  the  lineaments  of  their  acquaintances. 
The  portrait,  which  was  executed  with  a  crayon,  was  framed 
in  folds  of  two  American  flags.  On  its  right  was  a  splendid 
silk  Maryland  flag,  and  on  its  left  an  equally  handsome  na 
tional  banner.  Stark  upright  above  it  stood  the  staff  of  a 
Maryland  coat  of  arms  upon  a  blue  field,  and  on  the  extreme 
right  was  the  Confederate  battle-flag,  now  so  seldom  seen, 
with  its  red  field  and  crossed  bars,  containing  the  thirteen 
white  stars  which  represented  the  seceding  States.  The  flags 
were  draped  with  black  and  rested  in  front  of  a  field  of  the 
same  sombre  color,  which  concealed  a  part  of  the  north  gal 
lery  from  view. 


478  APPENDIX. 

VETERANS  FROM  THE  ARSENAL. 

The  entrance  of  the  venerable  Confederate  veterans  from 
the  Pikesville  Home  caused  the  audience  to  turn  around  in 
their  seats  and  applaud  fifteen  minutes  before  the  meeting 
began.  The  grizzled  old  fellows  made  a  strange  sight  as 
they  marched  toward  the  stage  as  fast  as  their  toiling  steps 
could  carry  them.  There  were  twenty-seven  of  them  alto 
gether  who  made  the  journey  in  order  to  hear  the  eulogies 
delivered  on  the  life  of  their  old  chief,  and  all  were  clad  in 
uniforms  of  genuine  Confederate  gray,  with  shining  brass 
buttons.  Their  long  army  overcoats  were  lined  with  red, 
and  most  of  them  wore  soft  slouched  hats.  The  applause 
kept  up  steadily  from  their  entrance  until  they  took  the  seats 
allotted  to  them  in  the  rear  rows  of  platform  chairs. 

THE  OLD  COLOR-BEARER. 

Not  far  from  the  head  of  the  line  waved  a  good-sized 
American  flag  borne  by  Morris  Scott,  a  stout  old  veteran 
over  six  feet  high,  whose  face  was  almost  hidden  under 
a  wide-brimmed  drab  hat.  When  the  aged  color-bearer 
ascended  the  stage  and  removed  the  hat,  his  resemblance  to 
Jefferson  Davis  was  generally  commented  upon.  His  white 
hair  and  chin-beard  were  cut  after  the  old  school,  exactly 
like  the  dead  ex-President's,  and  the  likeness  of  the  features 
was  almost  startling.  Scott  served  in  a  Texas  regiment,  but 
is  a  native  of  Montgomery  County,  Md.  The  veterans  were 
in  charge  of  Superintendent  William  H.  Pope,  and  were 
escorted  by  Mr.  James  R.  Wheeler. 

The  following  were  among  the  speeches  made. 

Mayor  Davidson  said :  "  I  accept,  with  no  ordinary  feel- 


BALTIMORE'S  MEMORIAL.  479 

ings,  the  duty  of  presiding  over  this  large  and  intelligent 
audience. 

u  Another  great  oak  of  the  forest  has  fallen,  and,  as  well 
those  who  have  admired  it  from  a  distance,  as  those  who 
have  rested  and  reposed  beneath  its  boughs,  must  stay  awhile 
before  it  passes  out  of  human  sight — I  will  not  say  forever, 
but  for  a  time. 

"Time  has  passed  for  Jefferson  Davis;  time  in  which  the 
vision  is  obscured  by  ignorance,  by  passion,  by  prejudice. 
Eternity  has  come,  in  which  truth  and  sincerity  and  devo 
tion  to  duty  will  count  for  more  than  enthusiasm  warmed  up 
by  self-interest,  or  yet  than  the  reputation  for  wise  choosing 
or  the  rewards  of  successful  effort. 

"  We  are  here  assembled  beside  the  grave  of  one  of  the 
most  conspicuous  characters  in  American  history ;  of  a  man 
of  the  mould  of  a  Cato,  of  one  whose  sense  of  right  was  sin 
gle,  who  could  plant  himself  in  lonely  courage  upon  it  and 
stand  unmoved  as  the  granite  hills.  The  heat  of  the  day  has 
long  since  past,  and  even  the  eye  which  dreaded  or  disliked 
the  sun  in  its  meridian  can  look  with  sympathy  and  pleasure 
upon  the  soft  beauty  of  its  setting. 

"  Here  let  us  all,  those  who  differed  as  those  who  sided 
with  the  great  departed,  do  honor  to  the  truthfulness,  the  sin 
cerity,  the  moral  courage  of  the  man  who,  of  all  others  in 
that  great  contest,  trod  the  wine  press  alone. 

"  We  are  not  here  to  discuss  the  causes  or  the  merits  of  the 
unhappy  era  in  the  history  of  our  country  when  the  debate 
was  adjourned  from  the  halls  of  legislation  to  the  tented 
field,  and  the  blue  and  the  gray,  equally  valiant,  stood  over 
against  each  other.  These  colors  are  blended  now  into  softer 


480  APPENDIX. 

ones,  and  the  manly  hand  that  bore  the  sword  has  with  them 
painted  out  the  canvas  of  brotherly  hate  forever. 

"  The  debate  is  closed,  the  result  long  since  accepted,  not 
sulkily,  but  with  cheerful  hope  and  alacrity,  and  to-day  the 
emblem  of  our  common  country  floats  on  every  staff  from 
the  Penobscot  to  the  Rio  Grande,  from  the  Chesapeake  to  the 
Golden  Gate. 

"But  that  man  nevertheless  wonld  be  a  coward  and  a 
recreant  who,  though  convinced  and  converted,  would  turn 
his  back  upon  and  refuse  to  honor  the  man  whom  he  and  his 
fellows  placed  in  the  advance  of  the  cause  which  he  had 
espoused. 

"  Though  I  was  too  young  to  bear  a  part  in  the  stirring 
events  of  the  war,  I  was  present  in  Richmond  from  its 
beginning  to  its  close,  and  even  as  a  boy  I  was  able  to 
observe  the  high  presence,  to  estimate  somewhat,  though  too 
feebly,  the  noble  character,  the  sincerity,  illumined  by  Chris 
tian  conviction,  the  determination  to  walk  in  what  he  thought 
the  path  of  rectitude,  how  stony  soever  it  might  be. 

"Wrong  he  may  have  been,  and  that  in  fact  he  was,  many 
times,  with  the  fuller  light  of  after  events,  all  will  admit ; 
but  that  he  was  consciously  wrong,  that  he  ever  allowed 
his  actions  to  be  moved  by  the  hand  of  his  own  selfish  inter 
ests,  all  who  knew  him  will  deny. 

"  There  are  some  associations  in  one's  life  that  no  lapse  of 
time,  no  change  of  place  or  circumstances  can  efface ;  some 
which  one  cherishes  with  something  of  that  feeling  which 
induces  him  to  lay  by  and  keep  with  tender  affection  some 
keepsake,  some  mute  emblem  of  '  those  loved  long  since  and 
lost  awhile. '  Such  an  association  with  me  is  the  stopping  of 
Jefferson  Davis  at  my  father's  house  on  Sunday,  the  2d  of 


BALTIMORE'S  MEMORIAL.  481 

April,  1865,  when,  with  tears  in  those  loving  and  noble  eyes, 
he  warmly  pressed  the  hands  of  my  father  and  his  family 
and  gave  them  the  sad  words  of  farewell.  And  so  now  I 
come  here,  in  this  presence,  to  say  farewell  to  that  benevolent 
and  God-fearing  soul  as  it  has  taken  its  last  journey  into  the 
hereafter,  and  placing  upon  the  fresh  mound  the  beautiful 
flowers  of  affection,  moistened  with  sympathetic  tears,  leave 
the  illustrious  *  dust  unto  dust. ' ' 

SPEECH  OF  COLONEL  D.  G.  McINTOSH. 

Colonel  D.  G.  Mclntosh  said :  "  It  has  been  accredited 
a  proper  thing  to  do  when  men  have  played  a  distinguished 
part  on  the  stage  of  life  to  deck  their  graves  with  gar 
lands.  In  the  nature  of  things  it  was  not  to  be  expected 
that  this  was  to  be  done  in  the  death  of  the  Hon. 
Jefferson  Davis.  While  we  cannot  as  a  nation  bestow 
these  emblems  of  mourning,  we  can,  as  a  people,  testify  our 
devotion  to  his  memory  and  bow  with  grief  beside  his  open 
grave.  Half  a  mighty  nation  stands  to-day  with  hearts  too 
full  for  utterance,  and  in  the  city  where  lie  his  remains  the 
walls  are  clad  in  black  and  an  army  of  men  looked  on  features 
which  they  shall  see  no  more.  The  women  of  the  South,  to 
whom  he  dedicated  his  book  and  whom  he  idolized,  and  who 
in  turn  idolized  him,  to-day  made  libations  of  their  tears  and 
poured  them  freely  on  the  altar  of  their  undying  love.  This 
spectacle  has  no  equal  in  our  past,  and  cannot  be  equalled  in 
our  future. 

"  Well  «iay   they   say,  '  dire   rebel  that  he  was,  he  was 

endowed  with  great  and  noble  gifts/     He  nothing  lacked  of 

sovereignty  but  the  right,  and  of  the  soldier  he  nothing  lacked 

but  fortune.     In  the  midst  of  such  surroundings  as  these 

31 


482  APPENDIX. 

i 

we  cannot  be  unmoved.  In  Baltimore  live  many  of  his 
nearest  and  most  devoted  friends.  From  this  city  went  forth 
many  who  battled  for  the  cause  which  he  espoused.  Many 
died,  and  their  friends  mourn  them  still.  Our  hearts  would 
harden  and  our  nature  turn  with  scorn  if  we  in  such  a  case 
failed  to  attest  our  love  and  our  loyalty  to  his  memory.  He 
is  beyond  the  breath  of  censure,  and  the  shafts  of  calumny 
cannot  disturb  his  spirit.  We  will  bequeath  his  memory  as 
a  precious  legacy  to  our  children. 

"  It  would  be  folly  on  this  occasion  to  attempt  to  trace  the 
full  course  of  this  man.  His  history,  perhaps,  runs  further 
than  that  of  any  of  those  who  struggled  with  him  in  the  lost 
cause.  His  brilliant  record  in  Mexican  and  Indian  affairs, 
his  political  prominence,  known  integrity,  and  other  reasons 
pointed  him  out  as  the  man  to  whom  the  destinies  of  the 
Confederacy  should  be  confided. 

"  The  time  has  already  arrived  when  an  impartial  criti 
cism  has  marked  the  lines  of  responsibility  for  the  events 
which  followed  secession.  The  North  mourns  her  gallant 
sons  as  well  as  the  South.  She  has  her  memory  which 
should  not  be  disturbed.  As  the  North  looks  back  through 
a  clarified  atmosphere  she  recognizes  that  Mr.  Davis  stood 
side  by  side  with  his  section,  only  put  in  a  more  prominent 
position  by  his  talents  and  capabilities. 

"  The  trouble  did  not  have  its  origin  in  Mr.  Davis,  but 
long  before  his  era.  The  first  convention  for  the  framing  of 
the  Federal  Constitution  was  attended  with  difficulties,  prin 
cipally  with  regard  to  representation,  and  was  adopted  with 
reluctance  by  some.  The  antagonism  between  the  sections 
for  power  grew,  and  it  was  adopted  at  the  South  as  a  cardinal* 
principle  that  the  balance  of  power  must  be  kept  as  a  matter 


BALTIMORE'S  MEMORIAL.  483 

of  safety  to  the  South.  The  election  of  a  President  from  a 
party  hostile  to  the  South  destroyed  the  equilibrium,  and  the 
South  at  once  withdrew  from  the  Union.  The  movement 
was  not  hostile  personally  to  the  President-elect.  The  South 
was  thoroughly  alarmed,  and  it  believed  it  had  the  Constitu 
tional  right  to  separate.  It  was  not  the  right,  but  the 
necessity  or  expediency  of  separating  that  the  South  dis 
cussed.  The  great  masses  of  the  South  believed  in  the  right, 
as  they  would  in  an  oracle  from  on  high.  Mr.  Davis  was 
sincerely  attached  to  the  Union,  and  from  his  education  and 
from  his  services  it  could  not  have  been  otherwise.  But  he 
stood  with  his  countrymen.  The  preservation  of  his  section 
only  remained  in  that  sovereignty  which  resided  in  the 
State. 

"  History  will  no  doubt  pass  judgment  as  to  whether  Mr. 
Davis  and  his  associates  were  right  in  their  belief.  But  his 
tory  will  never  use  in  this  the  word  which  of  all  others  his 
soul  most  abhorred,  that  of  traitor.  [Great  applause.]  No 
disaster  could  appal  him.  When  defeated  he  issued  those 
flaming  bulletins  which  cheered  the  men  and  excited  them 
again  to  deeds  of  valor.  [Applause.] 

"  It  was  the  fortune  of  some  of  his  soldiers  who  had  not 
been  paroled  at  Appomattox  to  overtake  him  in  the  retreat. 
He  would  not  believe  that  the  star  of  the  Confederacy  had 
fallen.  The  imperial  will  refused  to  be  thwarted.  He  still 
pictured  for  himself  another  base  of  operations,  and  the  little 
command  of  the  speaker  left  Mr.  Davis  with  the  assurance 
that  they  would  meet  him  across  the  Mississippi.  Two  days 
later  he  was  captured  and  the  conflict  ended."  The  speaker 
next  saw  Mr.  Davis  in  Richmond,  Va.,  arraigned  on  the 
charge  of  treason.  "  Fortunately  for  the  whole  country,"  he 


484  APPENDIY. 

continued,  "  the  charge  was  not  pressed.  The  offer  of  Horace 
Greeley  [great  and  long-continued  applause,  which  prevented 
the  speaker  from  completing  the  sentence  for  some  time,]  to 
be  a  hostage  for  his  late  enemy  was  the  first  step  towards  the 
reconciliation  between  the  two  sections.  In  those  days  the 
heart  of  the  South  towards  Jefferson  Davis  was  as  a  mother's 
heart  to  her  child.  The  irons  on  him  transfixed  the  hearts  of 
the  people  of  the  South.  To  his  people  it  was  an  atonement 
for  any  errors  he  might  have  committed.  He  was  the  people's 
vicarious  sufferer.  All  else  was  forgiven  and  forgotten. 

"  He  already  in  history  stands  out  the  most  interesting  if 
not  the  most  conspicuous  figure  of  the  day.  His  early 
friend,  Albert  Sydney  Johnston,  [applause,]  his  counsellor 
and  adviser,  Eobert  E.  Lee,  [applause,]  his  faithful  lieuten 
ant,  Stonewall  Jackson,  [immense  applause,  shouts,  yells  and 
continued  demonstration,]  we  can  trust  posterity  to  do  justice 
to  one  and  all.  Nature  made  him  one  of  its  noblemen. 
The  faith  which  he  professed  and  the  virtues  which  he  prac 
ticed  made  him  a  Christian  gentleman,  and  that  land  to 
which  he  has  gone  will  make  his  soul  pursue  endless  activity 
through  oceans  of  time." 

SPEECH  OF  GENERAL  BRADLEY  T.  JOHNSON. 

General  Bradley  T.  Johnson  said :  "  Twelve  States  and 
ten  million  people,  standing  with  uncovered  heads,  do  honor 
to  the  memory  of  a  man  who  has  just  died  penniless  and 
powerless,  who  for  twenty-five  years  has  been  their  ideal  hero, 
patriot,  statesman,  and  with  the  homage  to  his  memory  there 
mingles  not  a  stain  of  grief.  With  his  intellect  undimmed, 
with  his  honor  unstained,  with  his  reputation  peerless,  he  has 
passed  from  among  the  sons  ef  men  and  left  his  example  an 


BALTIMORE'S  MEMORIAL.  485 

imperishable  monument.  Time  levels  everything.  The 
pathway  of  history  is  strewn  with  the  wreck  of  systems,  of 
empires  and  of  races.  No  one  can  tell  where  Cambyses  sat 
or  where  Cyrus  was  buried,  but  noble  ideas  are  more  lasting 
than  marble  or  bronze,  and  memory  gives  a  more  permanent 
record  than  monuments. 

"  The  story  of  Davis  and  of  Lee,  of  Jackson  and  of  Stuart 
will  be  told,  and  the  courage,  manliness  and  fortitude  of  their 
followers  will  be  the  themes  for  generations  to  come.  My 
wonder  grows  with  the  passing  years  as  I  contemplate  the 
heroic  virtues  of  those  days. 

"  Tears  there  are,  but  they  are  the  tears  of  pride,  not  of 
sorrow ;  of  honor,  not  of  grief.  Facing  the  verdict  of  his 
tory,  we  can  truthfully  say  that  there  is  not  a  trait  of  Jeffer 
son  Davis  that  we  would  have  changed ;  not  an  incident  of 
the  last  twenty-five  years  we  would  have  altered.  During 
this  whole  generation  he  has  borne  the  misfortune  of  failure 
without  a  sigh  and  with  absolute  dignity.  With  him  we 
have  not  rejoiced  at  the  failure  of  the  Confederacy.  With 
him  we  have  never  come  to  the  conclusion  that  we  are  glad 
the  war  ended  as  it  did,  and  with  him  we  have  grieved  that 
we  failed  to  establish  the  Confederate  States,  because -with  him 
we  believed,  and  still  do  believe,  that  it  would  have  been 
better  for  the  whole  country  for  the  Confederacy  to  have 
succeeded  and  not  to  have  failed.  It  will,  after  a  while,  be 
understood  that  the  attempt  to  establish  the  Confederacy  was 
an  attempt  to  amend  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States, 
and  to  form  a  new  Union,  precisely  as  was  done  by  dissolving 
the  old  Confederation  and  forming  the  new  Union  of  1789. 
The  Confederation  of  1776  to  1781  was  formed  to  make  'a 
perpetual  Union.' 


486  APPENDIX. 

"  Mr.  Davis  and  the  men  with  him  were  trying  to  estab 
lish  a  Government  on  the  principles  of  the  Constitution  of 
1789.  I  have  never  concluded  that  I  have  been  glad  that 
war  ended  as  it  did.  On  the  contrary,  I  deplore  our  defeat. 
I  submit  to  the  inevitable,  and  I  believe  that  it  would  have 
been  better  for  all,  North  and  South,  had  the  amended  Con 
stitution  at  Montgomery  been  adopted  for  the  whole  country. 
Conquest  is  a  dangerous  thing — quite  as  dangerous  for  the 
conqueror  as  for  the  conquered — and  the  irresponsible  power 
wielded  by  the  United  States  from  1865  to  1876  has  fur 
nished  precedents  fraught  with  evil  to  the  future  of  liberty 
in  the  country.  They  have  established  the  precedent  that 
property  may  be  destroyed  by  a  majority  vote,  and  that  per 
sonal  liberty  may  be  abolished  by  the  force  of  numbers,  and 
that  these  are  rights  which  inhere  in  majorities.  It  requires 
no  prophet  to  foretell  the  coming  crusade  against  corporate 
property  just  as  there  was  against  slave  property,  and  when 
the  time  of  trial  comes,  Constitutional  guarantee  and  paper 
promises  will  avail  nothing." 

SPEECH  OF  KEV.  DE.  MUKKLAND. 

The  Kev.  D.r  W.  U.  Murkland,  pastor  of  Franklin  Street 
Presbyterian  Church,  said :  "  There  are  things  connected 
with  the  strife  of  the  civil  war  that  we  cannot  forget,  for  we 
would  be  traitors  to  the  dead  and  to  ourselves  if  we  did.  I 
speak  of  the  heroic  element  in  the  Confederate  soldier  which 
now  lives  in  the  hearts  of  the  people  of  the  South  ;  of  the 
heroic  endeavor^of  the  men  who  stood  by  what  they  judged  to 
be  right,  and  through  trial  and  suffering  refused  to  relinquish 
one  iota  of  principles  in  defense  of  which  they  were  willing  to 
lay  down  their  lives.  The  strife  has  passed,  but  this  spirit 


BALTIMORE'S  MEMORIAL.  487 

which  has  come  out  of  that  dark  time,  and  which  never  be 
fore  in  the  history  of  the  world  has  been  equaled,  can  never 
die. 

"  When  men  write  the  history  of  the  past  and  of  that  brave 
army,  they  will  recite  the  deeds  of  men  whose  memory  is  im 
perishable.  Men  speak  of  this  age  of  ours  as  a  material  age, 
everybody  busy  with  money-getting  and  with  the  practical 
affairs  of  life.  As  young  men,  we  have  longed  for  the 
chivalric  days  of  other  centuries,  but  in  our  generation  and 
century  has  been  revealed  a  grand  heroism,  a  brave,  daring 
and  a  mighty  chivalry  that  puts  to  blush  all  the  chivalry  of 
the  past.  Where  was  there  ever  a  grander  exhibition  of  it  than 
was  witnessed  on  the  blood-stained  battle-fields  of  the  South 
within  the  past  five  and  twenty  years  ? 

"  The  grandest  spectacle  for  me  is  the  picture  of  the  humble 
household  ot  the  South  sending  forth  its  son  to  die  for  the 
cause  of  liberty — parents  giving  of  their  scanty  substance  to 
fit  out  a  son,  clothing  him  in  the  gray  homespun,  and  then 
mortgaging  their  farm  to  bring  him  home  and  bury  him. 

"  It  is  the  record  of  the  sufferings  of  these  men  borne  with 
the  patience  of  Christians  and  the  fortitude  of  martyrs,  that 
marks  them  as  heroes.  They  had  no  slaves ;  they  had  but 
little  property.  They  fought  for  their  country,  for  their  con 
ceptions  of  right  and  truth  and  justice,  and  when  found  on 
the  field  after  the  battle  they  had  no  shoes  on  their  feet  and 
but  a  spoonful  of  parched  corn  in  their  haversacks. 

"  Twenty-five  years  have  passed,  and  men  of  this  stamp, 
their  wives,  their  sons  and  their  daughters,  stand  sorrowing 
around  the  grave  of  that  hero  of  heroes,  Jefferson  Davis, 
honoring  him  whose  country,  which  he  served  nobly  and  well, 
refused  to  grant  the  privileges  it  had  granted  to  slaves.  He, 


488  APPENDIX. 

a  man  alone  among  his  fellows ;  among  them  but  not  one  of 
them ;  a  solitary  picture ;  a  man  without  a  country ;  one 
upon  whom  calumny  and  indignities  had  been  heaped — 
wept  over  by  millions,  is  a  picture  without  a  parallel  in  the 
history  of  the  country. 

SPEECH  OF  S.  TEACKLE  WALLIS. 

Mr.  S.  Teackle  Wallis  said :  "  The  irons  which  manacled 
the  hands  of  Jefferson  Davis  in  his  prison  cell  entered  the 
hearts  of  every  man  and  woman  in  the  South,  and  made  him 
a  consecrated  man.  By  the  action  of  his  country  he  was  re 
fused  the  citizenship  of  the  United  States,  and  by  this  he  was 
made  a  citizen  of  the  world.  He  was  set  apart  from  all  he 
loved,  yet  he  bore  all  his  trials,  all  his  persecutions,  all  the 
indignities  heaped  upon  him,  as  a  patriot,  as  a  Christian  and 
as  a  gentleman.  It  is  a  picture  that  the  world  seldom  looks 
at,  one  that  the  world  rarely  sees. 

"  There  are  two  things  that  have  struck  me  since  the  death 
of  Mr.  Davis.  One  has  been  the  almost  universal  kindness 
with  which  his  memory  has  been  recalled  in  the  North. 
Here  and  there  we  hear  a  snarl ;  there  is  a  stringent  voice 
crying  out  against  him  who  is  now  lying  cold  in  his  grave 
and  over  whom  millions  are  mourning,  but  this  only  brings 
out  more  clearly  by  the  disagreeable  contrast  the  kindness 
everywhere  shown.  There  must  be  men  of  this  sort  in  the 
world  because  there  is  wickedness  in  the  world. 

"  I  differed  from  Mr.  Davis  in  many  ways  at  the  time  of 
the  war.  There  were  probably  not  many  who  differed  so 
widely  with  him  as  did  I ;  but  long  ago  I  made  up  my  mind, 
with  the  best  thought  and  greatest  intellect  I  could  give  to 
the  question,  that  the  cause  to  which  he  was  pledged  and  to 


BALTIMORE'S  MEMORIAL.  439 

which  he  offered  himself  as  a  sacrifice  was  the  right  cause,  and 
I  am  proud  to  say  it.  The  occasion  is  a  great  one,  when  men 
can  come  together  all  over  this  broad  land  with  one  object  in 
view,  to  touch  each  other's  hands  and  get  the  electric  thrill  of 
fellow-feeling  through  us  by  the  contact.  It  shows  that  there 
is  life  in  the  old  land  yet. 

"  Again,  it  is  most  gratifying  to  me  to  see  the  people  of  the 
South  everywhere  all  gathering  around  the  open  grave  of  Mr. 
Davis — not  merely  to  do  him  honor,  but  to  say  before  God, 
before  their  country  and  before  their  fellow-man,  that  his 
cause  was  their  cause ;  his  responsibility  was  their  responsi 
bility  ;  his  wrongs  were  their  wrongs ;  his  obloquy,  if  obloquy 
there  be,  to  be  theirs  as  well  as  his.  You  can  plow  up  the 
land  with  cannon  balls,  devastate  it  with  armies,  and  when 
you  can  get  men  to  rally  around  a  lost  cause,  remembering  in 
their  prosperity  their  hours  of  adversity,  and  standing  around 
the  grave  of  the  man  they  chose  as  their  leader  in  the  cause 
for  which  they  fought  and  lost,  claiming  his  sins,  if  he  com 
mitted  any,  as  their  sins,  and  thanking  God  for  being  able  to 
do  so,  they  can  never  be  anything  but  true,  loyal  citizens  of 
the  land. 

"  In  regard  to  Mr.  Da  vis's  character,  he  had  his  faults,  and 
many ;  he  committed  errors,  and  many  ;  but  he  was  a  great 
man,  and  there  is  a  proverb  that  is  so  apt  that  it  may  be  said 
to  be  true,  that '  The  greater  the  man  the  greater  the  error.' 
Faults,  mistakes,  error,  temper,  they  belong  to  all  men,  and 
among  them  the  best.  What  was  his  career  ?  At  the  time 
when  this  war  was  waged,  when  a  constitutional  government 
was  passing  into  a  despotism  of  the  worst  form,  when  Seward 
could  arrest  men  at  midnight,  as  I  know,  Mr.  Davis  and  those 
around  him  were  bringing  a  constitutional  government  out  of 


490  APPENDIX. 

chaos.  The  President  of  the  United  States  suspending  habeas 
corpus,  and  the  Confederacy  not  daring  to  do  it.  This  was 
one  of  the  contrasts.  There  were  many  of  them.  Did  any 
man  ever  charge  him  with  selfish  purposes  ?  Did  his  enemies, 
who  hated  him  worst,  ever  say  anything  but  that  he  was  a 
brave,  honest  man  ?  The  Confederacy  weakened  and  came 
to  an  end.  How  it  lasted  for  four  long  years,  with  all  the 
wealth  and  resources  of  the  North  against  it,  with  nothing 
but  the  energy  of  its  men,  the  sacrifices  of  its  women,  is  a 
great  wonder  of  the  world.  But  it  did  live,  and  that  four 
years  is  an  immortality.  Mr.  Jefferson  Davis  is  dead,  but 
dead  as  he  is,  with  the  portals  of  the  grave  closed  over  him,  it 
seems  that  I  am  able  to  hear  a  sweet  voice  calling  back  and 
saying,  '  He  is  not  dead,  but  sleepeth.' " 


..last  date  stamp="  • 


:  22 


k  '  l>  >%  ^^  3?v  *-<i  ft&SL  %  ^i^e^  <rt<\£>  ^ 


